the sword magic knight
by king carlos
Summary: Shiro had finally died, but before he accepted the deal with Alaya to become a counter-guardian Zelretch intervened and reincarnated Shiro. Now, Shiro is the prince of Clover Kingdom but his aim is still the same. He will be a Hero of Justice, and being a magic knight is not a bad choice to do it. (harem, reincarnated Shiro, later OP Shiro, bad grammar expected, F/GO characters)
1. Chapter 1

**I will do this just here, so to all who will read it you better pay attention.**

 **I claim NO rights to anything bellow this point. All characters belong to Yuki Tabata and Kinoko Nasu, I am doing this for no monetary gain and I pay all respects to the two of them and their incredible stories.**

* * *

He had done it. He had finally stopped the group of magi that was close to destroying this entire country in hopes of getting enough energy to reach Akasha, but it was too much for him alone.

Those magi had been stronger than he expected, and how he laid on the ground with blood pouring out of hundreds of tiny holes across his entire body and his heart had been gouged out due to them actually having two true ancestors helping them. He killed both and those magis as well, but this was his end.

He could not resist but release a chuckle as he remembered the memories he had from Archer, bastard that he was, and how his death was much more meaningful in comparison. AND, unlike Archer, he would never regret accepting the deal Alaya is going to propose to him now that he was about to die.

It was only a shame that he had no one to see him now that he was going to become the hero he so desired. Rin had got away from him as she threw herself in research some time ago, Ilya died long ago due to her body limitations, something he regretted immensely, and finally Sakura had been killed by some crazy magus that wanted to use her body for some ritual, he killed the bastard but saving her was already impossible.

His life was full of regrets, he only wanted to save others and if in life he was not enough then maybe in death he could save others better. His only good memories were the ones from the Holy Grail War where he met everyone he would come to care about and managed to stop the damned thing that almost destroyed the world, it was just luck that allowed it to go so well and his only truly bad memory was from Archer and Caster as well as that golden prick Gilgamesh.

"Well, we can't be having that now, can we? A repeat of a mistake is fun and all but after over a thousand times it gets a bit boring." An old voice said as Shiro suddenly found himself sitting in a beach, which should be impossible, with not a single wound on his body, again something that should be impossible since those wounds were cursed in such way that even Avalon wouldn't be able to help him, and with an old man with an overcoat beside him and exhaling more power than any living being had any right to have, enough to overshadow Gilgamesh a thousand times over.

THAT gave Shiro more of a scare than everything else he faced, especially when he realized who this old troll was.

"Oh, don't worry too much, fool boy. I just came to talk to you one last time, giving you an opportunity of a lifetime so to say." Zelretch said, his smile that did not reach his eyes still managed to calm down Shiro somewhat since Zelretch was known as someone who followed through with his words, in his own way at least.

"Yeah, can we make this quick? I kind of want to go and save more people and accepting the deal with Alaya is needed for that." Shiro said, making Zelretch shake his head.

"Why is it that all versions of you are just that hellbent in living for others? Is it the concept of Shiro Emyia that demands self-sacrifice in some way?" He asked mostly to himself, before turning his eyes back to Shiro. "Oh well, at least I know that I can make it better. If you are so hellbent in saving people, at least do it in a better way. Say, would you like to try something a bit different?"

That raised Shiro's curiosity slightly, it what Zelretch said was to be trusted then he might have a way to save people without having to sell his soul, something that deep down he was slightly reluctant.

Seeing Shiro not deny him instantly Zelretch took that as permission to continue.

"I visited a world not long ago and saw some worrisome signs of how things there are not going so well, which is a shame since over there magic is common knowledge and used by all while also being so much fun to see them acting. I wanted that world to remain peaceful, or as peaceful as possible since I do like to go there on vacation sometimes, so I was thinking about reincarnating you there. You will work there to make things better for everyone, and with that things will work out for me as well. It is a win-win situation where you get tens of thousands of people to save while I have my vacation spot saved from pestering idiots that may end up making too much of a ruckus for me to relax there."

That seemed a bit too much like a good deal. He could live again while saving people, and he would not have to go through the hell archer went and is going through.

Not bothering with Shiro's answer Zelretch smiled and said.

"Good that you agree, I will be sending you now then. Oh, and give my hello to Ilya and Sakura there for me too."

"WHA-" And with that Shiro Emyia was gone. He died before Allaya had the chance of taking his soul, making the spirit of humanity pout, much to the amusement of Zelretch.

"You are not having him for now, try again next time." Zelretch said as he too disappeared.

* * *

"Augustus-sama, it has been born! Your child, it is a healthy and animated child just as expected of someone with your magnificent blood!" A doctor rushed in the throne room as Augustus Kira Clover XIII was enjoying two beautiful girl's attention.

The said man was the king of the Clover Kingdom, one of if not the strongest kingdom of the land. The king only nodded to the information since for him the child's birth was not that important, he would only care about any progeny if it had strong magical powers as otherwise, it would be just trash.

The king looked at the messenger and said.

"Go and inform the mother that she has done a good job, also I want you to send someone to verify how strong his magical potency is immediately." Augustus said.

"My majesty, this would be impossible. It takes at least one or two years for any kid to start showing their magic capacity." The messenger said.

"Then when it is possible I want someone to inform me, also you don't have to bother me with information about him until we know for sure that his magic is strong enough for him to deserve being of my blood." Augustus said, again, he is someone who highly discriminates against those with weaker magical reserves and firmly believes that having a high magical power is enough to show that you are a chosen one.

"U-Understood, also, we would like to know what name you would like to give to the child."

"Humu, how about Shirou? I heard it means white and his mother IS from the house of Silva after all. He will be Shirou Kira Clover I."

* * *

It has been five years since I got into this new world. This is a strange land where I feel none of the influence of Allaya and the magic energy in the air is so dense that I almost choked when I first felt it.

But, the most impressive thing is that everyone, and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, here is a magus. They all are born with opened magic circuits and everyone can control magic since young.

It was a scary concept, especially since my nose was bombarded by tens of thousands of smells from all sides since there were just that many people here who have their own brands of magic.

I too was born with magic circuits, but instead of my original 27 of median quality, I was born with 127 and all of the superior quality, due to my royal blood. Yes, you heard that right.

I Shiro Emyia, now am Shiro Kira Clovis I, a royal prince and next in line for the throne of the Clove Kingdom, one of the strongest kingdoms out there.

My mother was a high noble, born from the sister of the Vermilion and her father was from the House of Silver, so I am also connected to two of the main houses of the kingdom. I also noticed one more thing.

My reality marble is gone just as Avalon is.

Well, gone is a strong world since I can still feel it and I can actually use basic forms in creating normal swords and I can feel that the sheat of Excalibur is still within me, it just isn't functioning and I can't use it at all, but that is just about it. I can't use a single noble phantasm, which limits me immensely, but doing what I can with the tools I have is what I've always done, that is all.

"Shiro-sama, where are you Shiro-sama!" A voice yelled, making me sigh.

I had not even five full seconds before two nervous men showed up.

These two are my cousins, Nozel Silva, and Fuegoleon Vermilion. The two are much older than me, both already magic knights and with Nozel being 19 and Fuegoleon being 20, Nozel having silver hair in a braid on the middle of his face and with an air of power that demanded respect to all, while Fuegoleo had long re straight hair and a mark in the middle of his forehead while walking around like a prideful lion. The two are great fighters, but their personalities are just too opposite to one another and they live trying to compete with one another as well.

And, their latest competition was about which squad I should enter later on.

It was no news for anyone that since I can talk I speak of how I want to save others, and when I heard about the magic knights and how they have the duty of saving others across the whole kingdom I started talking on how I would also be a magic knight.

Father initially said no and started talking on how it was not right, but after he found out that my magic reserves are just that great, being higher than even his, he laughed and said that I should do it and become the magic king AND the king of the kingdom, uniting all powers under the crow's leadership.

I am not sure on how to feel about him, my father in this new life is just far too different from Kiritsugu as Augustus was pompous, barely ever worked, was conceited, and what I can only tell was a spoiled brat, but he still was my father by blood and he was not one to abuse his powers too much despite his position. Overall, he was not that bad of a person, but he could never compare to Kiritsugu.

"Shirou-sama, your magic lessons are about to start back in the Vermilion mansion. We have to start learning more about magic now." Fuegoleon said putting his hands in my shoulder.

"No, you should be going with me to the Silver Edge house for you to take a look at the squad you will be going in the future." Nozel said.

Both finished speaking before looking at one another, their magic energies exploded and both started glaring at one another before a discussion started between the two.

Quietly I took a step back and before either had a chance to stop me (or notice my actions) I used the Reinforcement spell on my legs as I ran away from there.

This is my life now, but at least this is one step in the right direction. I will become a magic knight and with this I one day shall become this world's hero of justice that will save everyone.

After running for a while deeper in the woods behind the castle I saw something interesting. A group of blue dressed woman was running around as apparently, a disaster appeared in the outskirts of a city as an earthquake and a fire happened.

They said it was likely a group of bandits and were just about ready to leave, but I would not let that happen without me.

There are people to save, so I have to go too.

"Wait, let me come with you!" I yelled as I approached the group. Now that I am closer I realized that it is the magic squad, Blue Rose.

"Y-Your Majesty?! What are you doing here, shouldn't you be inside?" One of the women there asked while saluting me.

"There is no time for that, there are people to save so we should get going!" I said again, hoping for them to walk faster. In this sort of situation every second count.

"B-But you are the royal prince, taking you there is highly dangerous and if anything happened to you what would we do then?" The same woman said, before a plump woman pretty much shoved her away with a pair of wings.

"But aren't you a cutie pie?! You want to go and save those plebeians, right?" She asked, but it was more of an affirmation than a question really.

"Of course, it is my duty as a member of royalty and as a person of the Clovis kingdom to save those under me. If I am to cowar myself now how am I supposed to be a hero like the first magic emperor in the future?" I said, which was partially true.

I don't care about the title of magic emperor, but I want to make sure that I save those people that are suffering.

"Oh, he is so cute." All the girls said while hugging me, which unfortunately wasn't that uncommon since I now have quite 'cute' looks. I am small, but my face and skin is quite delicate looking, my eyes are deep golden and my hair is mostly white with patches of white that made me look like a mismatching cute doll, much for my regret. I don't have any hormones right now so this 'enviable' situation just means that I am one step away from being choked to death as far as I am concerned, all because I am 'cute.

I blame Zelretch for this, I put all the blame from this one him!

I was almost choked to death by all of them, but thankfully someone had good sense.

"That is enough!" One of the girls appearing said, her voice while not loud was laced with a lot of charisma and authority.

"Understood, Charlotte-sama!" they all said, saluting the girl and allowing me to breathe again.

As I finally had air to breathe again I took deep breaths before turning to the one who had spoken just now.

It was a beautiful girl of about 17 years old with a serious face, blue eyes and long blond hair that is braided. She has a certain confidence in herself that is hard to miss as she walks in with confidence.

"Your majesty, despite your desires taking you there would be excessively difficult since if anything were to happen to you then we would have no words to explain ourselves to the king." She said while looking at me seriously.

"I still must go! There are people there who may need my help, so I have to go no matter what!" I insisted, and when she kept saying no I decided that there is only one way to deal with this. The secret weapon that I developed in this world, a terrifying weapon that never fails me. Putting my hands in her robe and looking up to her I opened my eyes wild, made a pout in my mouth, and released all the charm my current 'cute' self has in my ultimate hypnotic weapon against women in general.

The dreadful puppy dog eyes.

"Please, Charlotte-onee-chan. I want to go with you." I said pleadingly, and with that, it was clear that she was one step away to take me with her.

But, she holds strong and was about to say no before a missile hit my side and I was again buried in that hell of flesh as another woman started trying to pass out due to lack of oxigen due to burrying me in her cleavage.

"Oh, he is so cute! Cute, cute, cute, so cute! Okay, Onee-chan will take you together this time, but you have to stay with onee-chan at all times and never get far from me. Also, it is this time only, you can't go with us in all missions and this is okay just because this mission is relatively simple and nothing else." She said, and when she finally let me have some air (I might have started going blue there) I finally could see who it was that talked just now.

It was a woman with long white hair and red eyes, she kind of reminded me of Illya but much more mature but with the same playful aura to her.

"But captain Einz, if anything happens to him-" Charlotte started talking but was promptly interrupted by her captain.

"Oh, you worry too much Charlotte-chan. I will protect him and if anything starts to go south I will bring him back immediately, it is captains orders okay, vice-captain." She said laughing a bit of the face Charlotte was doing. But then her face got serious again when she said. "Okay, now no more joking about. We have a mission to fulfill and we have to go save those from that town, let's go!" And with that, she brought out a broom, took me in her arms, and flew away.

As we were taking off I saw both Fuegoleon and Nozel coming running at my direction, the faces those two were doing when they saw me took off with the blue rose members were quite funny, but I know I will have to hear a lot about this from them.

Well, let's leave the future problems for my future me!

Right now there are people to save, and that is what matters.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **Wow, I finished this in a bit over a single day. I can't believe I did this so fast, but I hope it is good.**

 **Yep, I am doing this. I know I am by far not the best writer in this site, not even close really, but after watching Black Clover and bypassing the boring start (which was a chore to watch) the rest got quite entertaining, but it was a surprise when I realized that there are barely any cross-overs between fate and Black Clover despite the two fitting in together so well, so I decided to do this crossover.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it. This is a harem story but I hope it is good enough. I decided to make Shiro royalty just to show how funny it would be for everyone to go overboard every time he starts doing something stupid, which is all the time obviously.**

 **Until now these are the members of the harem I decided, they may change somewhat but I hope you guys like them:**

 **\- Mimosa Vermilion;**

 **\- Noele Silva;**

 **\- Sol Maron;**

 **\- Dorothy Unsworth;**

 **\- Grey;**

 **\- Illya (reincarnated);**

 **\- Sakura (reincarnated);**

 **\- Charmy;**

 **\- Kahono;**

 **Also, for those wondering who Asta and Yuno will be with, Asta will manage to enchant Sister Lili, who he already loves from the start and in this case is a bit younger being just 21 when Asta is 15 so the difference in age isn't that much and with more magic people get older slowly so she will live a long life (I don't know if this is a fact in CANON, but here it will be) while Yuno will be with Silphy, but instead of the spirit being so small it can change to be the same size as Yuno so no problems there.**

 **I hope someone enjoys the story.**

 **Like, Follow, and Reviews are appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Flying, something that normally was only possible with a plane in my old world (or the few times I was punched by Rin when she was embarrassed, she should be a Berserker as far as I know) is here something very simple.

It is just a matter of using a broon and flying away, it is absurdly easy to do if anyone asks me.

This truly is a blessed land for magic users, the mana in the air is very thick and there are many easy to use mystic codes that are practical to an unbelievable level.

As I sat down with Einz she started talking to me. She hugged me while telling me stories of her missions, how training magic was, and about her daughter Illya. The more I heard of the girl the more I am convinced that she is likely my little sister Ilya who died long ago, she probably was brought here by Zelretch as well. I almost cried when I realized that, this was proof that I still had a chance to make her get all the happiness she deserves, and this time I shall not fail!

I wonder if Sakura is in this world too, but I guess I can't go look for her now even if I wanted too since it is clear that no one would let me travel alone anywhere.

I am only traveling out of the castle now because a full magic squad is with me, and that because I begged to go over and over again and even resorted to my ultimate attack.

We have been traveling for about one hour before the first signs of smoke appeared in the distance.

"Remember, you must stay close to me." Einz said before turning to her squad. "Everyone! We must enter the town and make sure to rescue the civilians there, be sure to always walk in a group since there is a chance bandits may be present as well."

"Roger!" Every member yelled in confirmation.

In less than a minute we all descended in town, and it was terrible.

The whole town was leveled to the ground as many buildings were on fire.

As soon as we touched the ground I did not wait for anyone else as I jumped to action, there are people to save here and I refuse to simply stand by and do nothing.

Using my nose I focused on identifying anyone that may be under the rumble before reinforcing my body and start removing piece after piece of rubble that was in the way. I heard the magic knights speak something on my back, but I ignored it completely since I could feel the magic presence here getting weaker by the second.

After a lot of work, I finally managed to remove every piece that was pressing down on the person in question. It was a disheartening sign, it was just a little boy with a pale face who was barely awake.

Pulling him out of the rubble I noticed with a quick Structural Analysis made me see that his vocal cords were not so well so his voice would be quite low due to this but at least it could have been much worse if I took longer to save him. There isn't much I can do for him right now with my own strength, so instead of trying forcefully doing it anyway took him to the member of the magic knights who was specialized in healing magic and gave him to her before trying to took off again, only to be stopped by a firm hand in my shoulder.

"Your majesty, we agreed that you would accompany me, not that you would jump away at the first chance." Einz said while looking right into my eyes.

"But, I could feel so many injured people. I could not just let someone die in front of me if I could help it!" I said resolutely. Saving people is my nature, telling me not to is the same as telling me not to breathe or my father to work seriously or, even worse, to step into the plebeian area, not gonna happen.

"Even so, if you had talked to me we could have saved that boy faster. But, I must admit that I am surprised you managed to get that boy so fast." She said.

"Oh, I only smelled the air and I could tell he was there and was wounded quite badly." I said before smelling the air again. "There is someone under that house, the person is using an earth spell to guard himself but he is close to his limit." I said, but before I could go and help Einz with a curious face took out her grimoire.

" **Life Creation magic: Helpful Moles.** " She said and from the grimoire, some silver lines appeared before turning into a group of moles in mid-air before starting to dig in the house. Not even ten seconds later the person was saved.

Good, this can work!

We can save them all!

"Incredible, sensing others this precisely is not something normal. How did you do it?" Einz asked.

"No time for that, there is a group of 3 under that green building. One of them is weakening considerably." I said, and with my tone, she decided that this was not the time to think much about my capacities as instead, she focused on doing her job.

Relying on others sometimes may not be so bad, with this thought I started pointing to many places and describing the profundity and where exactly there was someone before Einz commanded her moles to excavate multiple people from under the rubble.

It only took a few minutes before everyone was taken out of the rubble, and I could finally give a sigh of relief. At least now everyone is safe and sound. I see many hugging each other, crying in happiness and sadness from what happened, but I also noticed one thing.

An older lady screaming for her daughter again and again desperately.

"Sol! Where are you Sol?!" She kept yelling with desperation in her voice.

She needs help, and what sort of hero would I be if I did not give her the help she needed?

As I approached her I saw that Charlotte-san also approached said woman.

"Can you give me the description of this Sol you keep talking about." Charlotte asked the woman.

"S-She is my little angel. She has brown skin, green eyes, and is about eight years old. She is quite stubborn so she might be looking for me on the forest since I was supposed to be there this morning, please you got to see if she is okay. I am begging you." The mother said to Charlotte, and just as I was about to volunteer myself a hand again was upon my shoulder.

"Your majesty, no. You can't go running in the forest alone, and I can't go there since I am still helping heal the wounded here." Einz said.

"How about I go with Charlotte vice-captain then? I don't feel any other strong source of energy in the forest that could even come close to match her, I am sure I will be okay." I said.

Einz wanted to say no, but when I proposed meeting her daughter on a later date she finally agreed.

It was an honor to meet the prince apparently, and she comes from a relatively minor noble family so she probably is after me meeting the girl and getting me closer to her. Low, I know, but this is reality and in this country what she is doing doesn't even count as low by any means, if anything she is going 'easy' so to say. I guess she might just be bad with denying kids of what they want as well.

Finally, she relented but she did order two more magic knights to come with me and Charlotte as a guaranty of my safety.

After everything was set we took off to the woods quickly, I had to reinforce my body just to accompany them, which surprised them since one of them was just about ready to take me in her arms, but considering the heavy breathing and how she was muttering something about 'doll prince' I am glad I showed that I can handle this myself.

Inside the woods, the number of smells that could be felt from everywhere was lessened by a large degree, which was a relief since those where supper annoying. I can get used, but I could not say I enjoyed it at all since there were just too many people around me with magic powers, and in the capital and especially in the palace it was only worse.

Anyway, as we now are in the woods we continued advancing quickly as one of the magic knights around me opened her grimoire.

" **Wind Creation Magic: Great Search of the windy hunter** "

As she said that a wave of wind was released from her in all directions as she closed her eyes, after about 5 seconds she opened her eyes again while her nose was twitching.

"I identified a girl around 400 meters to our right running away from a group of 10 stinky men, we should hurry since she might get hurt the way things are going." She said.

I decided to trust her words, so I focused reinforcement in my eyes to improve my eyesight by many times over and saw.

She was probably the girl we are searching for, but more importantly, I also noticed that she was already wounded and she was about to get caught.

Fuck, there is no time to get there, I have to save her right here and now.

"Trace On."

With those words, I put my hand in front of myself as I created a smaller version of my usual bow while in my other hand I created a sword. Knocking the sword in the bow I prepared the shot while the sword was modified to be more aerodynamic, and as soon as I finished pulling the string I released the arrow/sword.

* * *

My name is Sol, Sol Maron. I am a simple girl of eight years old living in the outskirt of the Common Realm and close to the Forsaken realm.

My mother is a gentle woman who likes telling me all sorts of stories about princes and princesses, but she was always so sad whenever I asked about my father. From what I got from others in the village that were gossiping my father was a traveler that went away the moment he heard mom was pregnant.

He had some connections with nobility so he had no desire to get married with a commoner girl like mom, but one good thing is that thanks to him I was born blessed with a lot of magic energy, much more than anyone else around us.

My life with mom is hard, but we love each other so everything is fine. We don't need any men in our lives at all, especially one that would run away from us.

Today started like any other day. Mom said she would go to the river to wash the clothes while I should go and search for some wood to lit the fire since neither I nor mom are fire magic users, we both are earth magic users. Mom, as always, told me to be careful because she heard there are some bandits around here from the Forsaken Realm, but I am a strong independent girl so I will be fine even if one hundred of them come for me!

As I searched for some good wood for the fire I felt an earthquake shaking the land, I barely managed to stand my ground and had to run as some of the trees started falling as well. It was not easy at all, but after a few minutes things calmed down.

Just as I was calming down I realized something, mom might be injured!

So, I ran directly towards the river close by. With luck, mom will be just fine and nothing will have happened to her at all.

As I finally got there, there were no signs of mom even being there, but as there were many fallen trees I had to make sure. If she was to be under any of them and she was injured, I just have to save her!

Using the magic I could use I created earth hands and started removing those logs and trees from the way. Before long I started getting tired, but I must be sure that mom is okay so I continued doing what I was doing.

Before long I had removed all the trees and there was no sign of mom anywhere, I think she might still be in the city. Yeah, she might have taken a bit longer to get out of town so she might still be there.

Just as I turned around to go there.

"Look what do we have here, a little future slave wandering around and just begging to be captured."

A group of men showed up from the woods, they were carrying rusty swords, wearing rough leather clothes, and were most certainly the band of bandits mom told me about.

Seeing them and feeling their eyes on me I wanted nothing more than to smack them, but my magic reserves are running dangerously low right now, I can't fight them at all. That was proven especially true when they took out their grimoires.

Turning around I started running as my life depended on it, evading many fireballs and ice spikes that flew my way.

After a while, I realized that they were not taking this all that seriously. They were taking it all calmly since I would get tired of running sooner or later, I don't know what to do since I can't go back to the city since it is entirely possible that the city is bad as well and they may hurt the others there.

As time passed I felt more and more tired, my breath got more and more heavy as my heart felt like it would explode out of my chest.

Finally one of them had enough of this 'game' and decided to end this. I could not evade anymore as he approached me with that hateful hand and released a wind blade that hurt my right leg. It was only due to luck the wound wasn't deep, but this also meant I couldn't run away anymore. With this thought, I turned terrified at those men, all with their hateful faces leering down at me, one of them walked ahead and stretched his hand to capture me.

SWOOSH

Suddenly, out of the blue, an arrow almost pierced the man in the arm. Before long more and more arrows started flying at them, not one hitting me.

Even as they tried to create an earth barrier the arrows still pierced the shields as if they didn't even exist and before long all of the bandits were pierced, all in non-lethal spots.

Just as I could not understand what was going on I saw. There were a group of people approaching me from where the arrows came from, three beautiful women with the one on the corner being the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, they all were wearing the uniform of Blue Rose's magic squad, and one boy even younger than me with a bow in his hand.

He was, for the lack of better words, cute. He seemed almost like a doll with his big eyes, pretty skin, round cheeks, and mismatching red and silver hair, but the most striking thing on him was the smile he had on his face. It was just so happy

"I am so glad you are safe, are there any wounds, do you need help?" He said while circulating around me. I noticed how well dressed he was, he was most certainly nobility so why was he worried about me?

"No, I am fine. I am an independent woman so I am just fine." I said, trying to show off how amazing I was. I do admit that my ankle is hurting as I almost broke it during the run and my magic energy is so low that I can barely walk, but I don't want to admit that at all.

He nodded his head and we started walking back to the city, during the trip back he kept stopping everywhere to collect some herbs here and there just like a commoner would, however, he is still a noble so why is he bothering with doing that? Not only this but he also shot down a few birds with his bow and even a moose and asked a wind magic user to carry them all with them. It was like he was more of a commoner hunter than a noble, it was very weird.

After a while, he turned to me and before I could say anything he took me in his arms in a princess carry position.

"You are wounded, I will take you home." He said with a smile.

"Y-Your majesty! Please don't do this, at least let us carry her instead. If anyone were to know you were carrying a commoner girl like this, rumors may arise." One of the women said with a fearful face.

Majesty? Why did she call this boy majesty? Why is a member of Blue Rose acting like this?

"Don't worry, she is quite light and if we need you to act during this trip back and you are carrying her it would be even worse don't you think?" He said calmly.

The woman looked torn, but after some time, she relented and let him do as he pleases.

A while later, before we got to town I could no longer resist my curiosity and decided to ask.

"Hey, why did she called you your majesty? Are you a member of the royal family?"

"Something like that. To be more precise my name is Shiro Kira Clover I, the prince of the Clover Kingdom and future hero of justice." He said, clearly showing that his desire to be a hero is greater than the importance he gives to be the prin...

Wait, did he just said PRINCE? As in Prince Shiro who is rumored to be the person born with the biggest amount of magic in the entire kingdom?

Wh-Why is he here? And why is he carrying me around like this? Shouldn't he be, I don't know, up in his castle doing prince-stuff like drinking tea or something?

As doubts covered my mind we finally got back to town, I saw mom there getting all the treatment she needed as she smiled at me.

After that, I jumped out of the prince's arm (still weird to think about it) and ran to her crying in relief.

We started talking and crying together, but before long a smell entered out noses.

Someone started making a meal, the moose and the birds were all on a stake that looked suspiciously like a long sword as the prince started making a barbecue for us all using the meat and herbs we collected in our way here. It was beyond surreal, a prince was preparing the food for us commoners with a smile on his face.

But, the most surreal thing was that the meat was delicious. I mean, I never tasted anything close to being this delicious. The herbs and meat were just perfectly blended together, but the most striking thing for me was that when he saw us all eating the prince smiled from the bottom of his heart.

BADUMP

Wha, why is my heart beating faster when I see him smile? What is going on?

* * *

Going back to the castle was interesting. The citizens kept thanking us profusely and I noticed that the girl that I brought back, Sol I think, was looking at me with eyes that are reminiscent to those I sometimes saw on Sakura.

Also, the boy I saved first seemed to want to thank me, but his voice was way too low so I could not understand what he said all that well. I just put a hand on his shoulder and said that I am happy that he is safe before I left.

The trip itself was not all that great. Apparently, I was all dirty so one of the magic knights with water magic and one with soap magic (this world has some weird magic styles) flew around me pretty much giving me a bath in mid-air while Einz kept complaining that I was way too reckless, but whenever I looked at her it was clear that her complaints were mostly empty anyway so there wasn't much of a true problem there.

The problem, however, was when we actually got in the castle.

To say that Nozel and Fuegoleon were mad would be a large understatement, the two berated me for more than half an hour nonstop for doing something so utterly reckless like what I did, they even berated Einz as well for actually taking me to somewhere that unsafe.

But, when they heard of my actions the two reacted... way worse.

"Shiro-sama, you are royalty. You have no obligation or should even need to step on the same ground that those mere commoners do, much less do something so unlike royalty like using your own hands to cook." Nozel said with a displeased face.

"But cooking is fun, I like doing it to relieve stress and it can help bring smiles to others. I just wanted to make everyone happy and safe just as a hero should." I said while looking directly at him. Nozel is someone who is absolutely serious and firm in his beliefs of royalty and nobility, but above all else he is firm in his belief that cowardice in any way is wrong, especially for those in power.

If I cower in any way in front of him things would not be good at all.

Fuegoleo just shook his head while he saw me and Nozel discussing, but before he could open his mouth to say something someone else barged into the room.

"Shiro, I heard you decided to go out in a mission with the magic knights. This type of courage, I could expect nothing less from my rival, hahahahaha." The one who entered here is the younger brother off Fuegoleon, my cousin and my self-proclaimed rival, Leopold Vermilion. He is a very brash boy who doesn't like to think much of the results of his actions, which is quite normal considering he is only five too. He has short messy hair that covers his ears and has a confident smile on his face as he entered the room while not noticing the glares from both Fuegoleon and Nozel, even though the latter was glaring more another person in the back.

On the other side of the recently opened door were two little girls of my age, one had braided pigtail silver hair, purple eyes, and was wearing a cute clothing that was relatively easy to move but whenever she saw Nozel she would cower a bit in fear which kept displeasing him, the other girl has yellow eyes and shoulder length wavy vermilion hair with bangs on her forehead. They are Noelle Silva and Mimosa Vermillion respectively, my childhood friends and cousins.

As the kids entered the room it was clear that the discussion was over, but both Fuegoleon and Nozel decided to 'ground' me until I was older. They didn't really have the authority, but considering that my father gave the responsibility of grooming me for the Vermilion and Silva family as he had more important things to do (meaning be fed grapes laying down on a beautiful woman's tighs while scratching his royal ass) I had to listen to them. Also, my mother had been sick for a while now so leaving her side for long is not good, but this time I had no other option since there were people to save after all.

"Shiro, we will continue this discussion later. Also, we will begin physical training soon since your magic seems to demand it while also finding someone to teach you swordsmanship and archery." Fuegoleon said while Nozel just turned around and left, many would think it is because he is tired of this but I know that it is because his ridiculous braid in the middle of his face (why is everyone in house Silva using such ridiculous cuts?) starting to get disheveled.

It was kind of fun, he acted all high and mighty all the time but he spent almost a third of his 'precious time' fixing his braid.

Well, he probably also didn't want to get involved when there were talks of making me, the prince, work out my body which for most nobility is absurd. But, it is a fact that considering my magic this is clearly necessary no matter how they see it.

And so, now my time was cut even shorter as I have to deal with physical training since 5 years old and swordsmanship and archery classes, which was actually useful since the styles used here allow for more variety on my sword skills and the rapid-fire that is normal here can be matched with my normal style.

As I sat down to talk with my friends I could not help but smile, this life I live is definitely blessed.

* * *

"Did you obtain it?" A young man said, he was barely seventeen with braided long hair and some makeup and jewelry in his body asked a man that was behind him, said men had clearly feral characteristics of about 18 years old.

"Yes, Licht-sama. We managed to find the first magic stone deep in that cave under the city, taking it caused an earthquake but unfortunately the Blue Rose squad appeared before the humans there experienced all the despair they certainly deserved."

"No problem, this is a happy occasion Vetto. This is the first step towards out grand goal, we shall soon reunite all the magic stones. But, before that we should try to reunite more followers, just to be safe since we never know what may happen and getting more people working for us may be proven necessary." Licht said to Vetto who nodded in agreement.

"Also, I noticed the filthy blood of the royalty there. Is it really okay that I did not kill the boy?" Vetto asked.

"Sure, it is fine. We shall let him and the rest of the royals live a while longer, we shall let them enjoy themselves a while longer before eliminating them like the vermin they are." Licht said, dropping his 'saint' mask to reveal his darker and more evil side, the mere thought of those from Royal blood to suffer under him, the revenge he would get from them, everything was just so wonderful for him. Yeah, he wanted to see them bleed and suffer for what their ancestors did, and he would enjoy every second of it.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **I just wanted to clarify somethings.**

 **First, the harem will likely not increase in size and it will be meaningful for the story even if not the most important part. Second, I am still thinking on how Shiro's grimoire will be like. Personally, I think it connecting to UBW is something that will happen but I also am thinking on making him create his own blades with different abilities like healing, sealing magic, create smoke too hide, and other things more. It will be quite versatile, but I will leave up to you guys if this is good or if I should keep it as just UBW. Maybe make like Veto and have a Weapon Creation Magic and Mystical Weapon Creation Magic to differentiate.**

 **And one more thing, if someone didn't notice the boy he just saved is a young Gordon and the reason as to why I showed the Eye of Midnight Sun acting is because even before the series started they already had quite a few stones so this looks alright for me.**

 **If I did any mistake please tell me, I have only looked into the wiki and watched the anime until now so I may make mistakes.**

 **Like, Follow, and Review are welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am here just to say I fixed some small problems I noticed in the previous chapters, like specifying where Avalon is right now. When Shirou was transported Avalon was sealed away together with UBW, it will work in a special manner in the story that I hope you guys will come to enjoy.**

 **I also went to previous chapters to fix any and all orthographic mistakes I've done on them (that I could find, sorry for them. I usually have a program rolling to indicate most mistakes but for some reason the program wasn't working when I wrote those chapters at first) and fixed my mistake in putting Akasha instead of Alaya, which makes me want to give my thanks for _victimsofrage_ for pointing out that mistake. If anyone find any mistake please do tell and I will try to fix it to the best of my capacity.**

 **Another thing, I decided to drop Dorothy from the Harem list, it was not that good of an idea anyway and after reading the review from _Crossovernaru_ made me realize that. I had planned to make something out of it anyway, like say how she invites him into her dream world and there she can talk to him all excitedly and with plenty of energy but I don't know if this would work so well. Noelle and Mimosa may be his cousins but this type of relationship is far from the worse thing nobility could do since they have to keep their blood 'pure' and all.**

 **Also, I changed some characters age to be slightly younger than their counterparts, I hope this isn't an issue for the readers as those who should be older will still be older. And one more thing, if someone could tell me your thoughts on Nozel after this chapter I would greatly appreciate it.**

* * *

6 years later

 _Nozel Silva's P.O.V._

His majesty Shirou is, for the lack of better words, weird.

Since very young he has always been unnaturally mature, almost to the point that sometimes I forget that he was just a kid back then and treated him like an adult. He was attentive and heard what I and that idiotic flame rival of mine had to say and since very young he wanted to become a magic knight to save the common people, and that is the problem with him.

He has NO awareness of his position, he likes working in things that only commoners should do, almost as if he longs for being an inferior being. And, for as terrible as it is to admit, his food is by far the best I ever had. Apparently, he has become able to reinforce even the ingredients to bring out more flavor on his dishes that he sometimes makes for everyone.

My two idiotic siblings sometimes mock him for acting this way, but it is only behind his back as, in front of him, those two like to act like they kiss the very floor he steps. If those two weren't my siblings and had magical talent I would have thrown the two far away from his highness long ago for the disrespect, if not outright end them myself for their actions. Instead I 'spar' with them whenever I find them talking badly about his majesty, but those two are so stupid and conceited that they think I am giving them the present of my time and rub it on that child's face.

Humph, even remembering that child makes me mad. To think that because of her my mother, the person who I loved and respected above all else, had to die, unforgivable. And worse, the child isn't even able to use magic properly and wants me to spend time with her and distract me from my duties.

Utterly foolish, I would never enjoy spending time with the one who killed my dear mother, the person I loved more than anyone else in the world as she represented everything I ever wanted to be like, and she was taken away from me by _her_. Now I have to push myself further, none of my siblings are capable of supporting the Silva family at all so it all is on my back, the legacy of hundreds of years is up to me to take care off, and I refuse to fail it as a final sign of respect for my dear mother.

I still remember when I had to take over the house when I was just 14, just obtained my grimoire, and had the three to look after, all because father was weak and lost during a mission a year prior and mother was killed by that girl. I had to safeguard my position, to make sure no one would ever dare to plot against my family and become perfect, the closest thing I had to a friend was the flaming lion idiot. I had to leave other friends, learn to distrust everyone, and carry all the burden by myself, all because that wasted girl had to be born. I even declined the engagement to a girl I loved all because I feared her family might try to take over my family. All because of her, and now that thing is trying to take advantage of his majesty's ingenuity and gentleness.

Deep down I just wish his majesty wouldn't be so friendly towards that waste of space murderer. Every time I see the two close I feel a premonition that she might try to ruin our family further, that she will not be satisfied by only killing out most precious jewel but will also be responsible for killing his highness somehow with her magic by 'accident'. Sigh, if only he wasn't so stubborn about staying by her side despite everything things would be so much easier. Even after his mother died of the illness that plegued her for years (I believe it was pneumonia or maybe something else, temedical terms were always a mistery for me) when he was eight he cried for a while but still did not stop training and helping others, a mark of a strength of will too strong for someone so young. It even reminded me a bit of myself, even though in my case I couldn't find time to mourn and on his he did not give himself time to mourn.

Now his highness is already 11 years old and one thing is clear to me, he will become a great magic knight, possibly even stronger than the first Magic King himself. Since five both me and the flaming lion idiot, who doesn't understand how amazing my hair is, put him to train in everything he might need, I taking care of his magic aspects as it is the most elegant aspect (which befits my Silva family more) as well as politics while Fuegoleon is responsible for the physical and combat aspects (which are much more crude, just like him). He now is quite close to getting his grimoire since royalty can try to obtain one since they are twelve and the earlier they manage to get one the more time they will have to train with them.

Since we started training him seriously we continue pressuring him in all aspects, and there is none that he isn't capable. His magic, weapon creation, is very versatile and his use of a sword is impressive as well. He would be perfect if it wasn't for his excessive wish to help others with disregard for himself.

Well, at least this served a purpose since thanks to that he got close to a few interesting people. If only that foreign captain of the black bulls (that nonsense eyesore) and that worm from the Green Mantys weren't so interested everything would be better. When will they understand that His Majesty will belong to my Silver Eagle? He already is comparable to the lower end Magic knights and he doesn't even have a grimoire, there is no other squad fitting for him but my own.

Also, why is his majesty so adamant about how it is good that those from common birth also enter the magic knights? I will never agree to that, the ones from common birth should remain as such as there shouldn't be any reason for them to even need to risk their lives as magic knights. This is why nobility exists, we have privileges in exchange to having the obligation of protecting those who are from common birth, it is our duty and an inversion of it is something I do not agree in the slightest.

If anyone has to risk themselves for guarding the country it should be us from nobility, and only us. We are those who were given that role and we are the ones who get the most from the country. If the common folk also starts participating it just means that nobility isn't needed anymore, that the life work of generations of the Silva family isn't needed anymore. This I cannot approve, not now and not ever.

* * *

 _Fuegoleon's Vermilion P.O.V._

Hahaha, my cousin is amazing!

Since young, I have watched over him with that silver eagle stuck-up and I readily admit that the kid is to my liking.

Last month I took him and Leopold with me on a mission, and the two did admirably.

Leopold even fought against a bandit all on his own and won without a hitch, which is more than I ever did by his age of 11, but His Majesty did even better as he defeated 3 bandits all on his own without suffering a single scratch.

There were a few close calls as he was almost scratched a few times due to him going back to that stupid swordsmanship he somehow invented that exposes all vital areas, but as soon as he came back to using the peerless style, the one that was developed long ago by the best swordsman this nation ever had and continuously improved, he did not have any enemy get anywhere close to him.

It is worrisome that his magic is one that demands so much proximity for him to use effectively, but I believe that when Shiro obtains his grimoire he will be able to overcome this problem without a hitch.

Another interesting thing is that Leopoldo pouted the entire trip back as he defeated fewer enemies than Shiro, but when we got back he was back together and already challenging Shiro to a spar.

The two spared quite a bit, of course, we always have experienced magicians to stop the match if it ever gets too heated and we also have medical magicians in wait. The two always fight in a similar fashion, Leopoldo tries to attack from the distance while Shiro tries to cross the distance and get up close, it is good training for both of them since Shiro wants to learn how to get closer to someone attacking with magic while Leopoldo needs to know how to control the distance between himself and the opponent.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that despite being the prince Shiro has an absurdly high tenacity, almost as if he is desperate to get stronger faster as he keeps training his body to be as strong as possible despite already knowing reinforcement to a level that may even suppress my own. I remember how Kirsh mocked this behavior once only to get Mimosa mad at him from mocking her friend, good times.

Mimosa has grown very close to him, it is almost impossible to see him in the Vermilion mansion without her around as he is someone who spoils her quite a bit, keeping her company and listening to her talking of everything and anything she might put in her head.

Maybe she could marry him? They are cousins, but that hardly matters when it comes to high nobility and royalty since this sort of thing is as normal as it can be since most noble families believe (with good reason) in keeping the blood pure to try and get the most magic energy to the future generations. Also, it would be interesting for the family if the next queen was of Vermilion Blood but I doubt Nozel would take this lying down. He is a competitive idiot with a ridiculous hairstyle and a stuck-up attitude that still didn't understood that I am better than him, so he might try something like trying to push Nebra to marry Shiro, which is as likely as he turning out like his father, or Noelle, which I doubt since he has been a pouting child about her acting just like a kid with her and trying to pretend she doesn't exist.

If I could I would take her in myself, but despite my wishes and thoughts she still is a member of the Silva family so I can't get too involved with their internal matters.

Shiro is good friends with her too, as well as a group of other young nobles like Finral Roulacase, Klaus Lunettes, Illya Von Kiritsu, and Rill Boismorte, all promising young ones that should probably reach high levels in the future. Even though the Roulacasse looks like a poorer option of friends than his younger brother but his majesty simply insisted with this saying that Finral's magic was just as great in his opinion, something to do with getting to those to rescue faster or something like this. Considering his highness tendencies he might be thinking on how to escape the castle undetected and go look for people to rescue or just help feed the poor without telling us by spending his own money he gets from reselling some of the gifts the nobles give him.

He truly is a gentle soul, which makes me infuriated when I hear some of the nobles mocking him and calling him 'commoner prince' or 'failed royalty', they are lucky that it is me who heard it because if it was Nozel I think the families of those who said those words would have to melt them out of mercury to even try to get a decent burial. Nozel is just that protective of His Majesty, which I admit to being just as well, as in my as they might be returned as ashes outright.

Right now I heard he went to Raque, the beach town that is quite famous as a resort, with his friends to commemorate Finral's admission as a magic knight of the Black Bull squad before the normal age of fifteen, entering at that squad at 14. It is quite the shame since I thought of inviting him myself if he ever showed up during the regular inscription time as his type of magic is of incredible use for any squad he enters. He was taken there by the captain Einz as what is likely her last mission since she has decided to leave her post since her magic started to weaken due to her age, but if I ever say this outright I feel that she will crush my skull with a bright smile.

I might be as strong as I am, and she might weaken as much as she wants, but I would still not say those words to her. I do treasure of my life.

* * *

 _Shirou's P.O.V._

This world really is blessed. Over here the path for me to be a hero really is quite clear and the amount of mana in the air is outstanding, this location then it is even more so.

The coastal city of Raque, a land where the mana is so dense that I can almost feel it as a viscous liquid surrounding me. If I wasn't already somewhat used to how incredible amount of mana this world has I would have passed out of intoxication by just being here.

After getting used to the place me and the others went out to play, well mostly I was dragged by them since I personally wanted to go see if there was anyone in the city that needed help but my friends would have none of that. Mimosa and Ilya were the most verbal about it but it was clear that Noelle also did not wish for me to go and continue helping others during my small vacation.

It is strange, originally it was supposed to be a party to commemorate Finral-san's acceptance as a magic knight, but the girls decided to see this as a vacation for me instead. Something to do with the fact that I may train too much, but I still disagree with them.

I only train for thirteen hours a day on magic, physical strength, swordplay, archery, martial arts (I finally managed to copy the style the executors from my previous life used and united it with the martial arts used in this world), etiquette, general knowledge of politics, manners, economy, and many other things like survival in the wild as we never know what the future as a magic knight will be like. I was since I was 5 learning everything about those matters every day when I am not with them or on one of those terrible parties of nobility that I oh so hate, for the last 6 years with barely any stop. I only ever slow down when one of the magic knight captains decide to take me on a mission, which has been getting more and more common. Especially Jack the Ripper, Einz, and Yami, those three really like me to go with them, for different reasons.

Einz because she still thinks I am a cute doll which she can hug while going and returning from missions, Jack because he always likes to see me cut anything down and keeps pestering me to get stronger already so we can see who can cut things better, and Yami because I am the only one he can ever beat in poker or other luck-based games. Yami is the most annoying since he always comes to me barely dressed after losing everything he has, beats me on a card game, gets something back, goes gambling, and comes back to me with nothing yet again. At least I got him to promise me to teach me how to sense ki after I get my grimoire after I beat him on a game of poker, it was sheer luck that I managed that and all I had to do is lose 9 consecutive times before and wait until he got drunk from all the alcohol he was buying with my lost money.

Oh well, at least my friends here are great.

Ilya doesn't remember a single thing from our previous life but her appearance is pretty much the same as before and so is her personality which makes me all the more protective of her. She is learning Life Creation: Berserker Magic, which creates creatures that are crazy strong and attack with absurd ferocity (which some looking eerily similar to some Berserker servants I've seen in my past life), the first time I saw her create one and say 'Go get him Berserker' I did not know if I should cry in happiness to see her in such a similar form to the past, or run away in fear, I ended up doing the second option. I fear that when she get a grimoire she will actually manage to summon a copy of Berserker or multiple copies of him.

That would be terrifying.

I still remember that the moment I saw her for the first time I could not help but hug her out of sheer instinct. After I snapped out of it and realized she did not know me I apologized and said something like thinking she was a cute fairy or something and she dropped the matter while blushing a bit, Einz thought it funny and her husband just looked at this with a cigarette in his lips and no words. After that, we talked for a while and somehow she started calling me Onii-chan, maybe it is some leftover memories from her other life but this still put a smile on my face.

Now to the others. Noelle needs constant help in her confidence since she has not managed to get the knack for control of her magic reserves, which dwarfs any other I have seen with the exception of those from Rill and the knight captains like Willian Vangeance, the knight captain of Golden Dawn and a guy I simply cannot like for some reason,but I must admit that Noelle reminds me of Rin quite a bit as she is also a tsundere who can't ever be honest about her feelings even when they are obvious. She is hated by her family because of her lack of control and what happened during her birth, but I know that one day she will grow to do amazing things.

Mimosa reminds me of Sakura, no other way about it. At least the Sakura I knew before the war, the soft-spoken, gentle, and firm girl that would not back down on doing things even when I told her she didn't have to. Mimosa is gentle, she told me once that she desired to be part of a magic knight squad to save people's lives using her healing magic. Even her magic is gentle and beautiful as she has Flower Magic, and I just know she will save many people with her gentle smile and beautiful magic.

What can I say of Rill Boismortier? He is someone who ended up being my friend out of a sheer accident, I once saw him painting and found it quite amazing despite what many other nobles were saying and when he heard me complement his paintings he was just so happy that he took me to his gallery to see his other works. I enjoyed it but told him that it lacked something. When he asked me what exactly I told him it lacked 'reality'. He had grown up inside his own little world, improving his painting skills and talents so much that he forgot to actually know the rest of the world. After I told him this I invited him to come with me the next time I went out, when we did we went to help feed the poor (thankfully Yami captain accepted taking us there as no other 'sane' captain would take us) and after seeing the world better his next painting was much better than ever before, I even met sol again as well as that overly quiet kid I saved back then, and both seemed happy to see me as we talked for quite a while. Since that outing together Rill has glued himself to me whenever I went out and before long he was a close friend of mine.

Klaus was pretty much just like my old friend Issei. He is extremely serious, set on what he believes in, no-nonsense, and has a habit of fixing his glasses every few minutes. He was shocked after meeting me and seeing how I acted unlike any other noble did, he even wasted his time trying to get me to stop being myself, but in the end he was captivated by my efforts and started taking his own training much more seriously and is now on a fast track to being a magic knight. He also came to respect commoners more after being around me for some time and seeing them for himself, but he deeply dislikes Finral for his skirt chasing tendencies.

Finral, that one is a bit more complex of a story. When I heard about him I thought of him as a Shinji type of guy, he was said to be frivolous, skirt chaser, and a waste, but when I actually met him he, he was all those things. But it was not his fault, his magic was different from the rest of his family, he was a space magician that specialized in opening holes for transportation instead of using attack type space magic, his reserves of magic were also quite a bit smaller than his younger brother so he was looked down upon by others so he threw himself in flirting and other small things to distract himself from that reality. But, for me, his magic is so many times better than his brother. He can help me travel everywhere, with his help I can get on a disaster site much faster and save many more people when I told him this at one party he sneaked in while trying to flirt with someone way over his league he almost cried in happiness just by being recognized. Since then we have been friends most of the time, except when I am around during his flirting time since most girls outright ignore him to swoon me as I still look a bit like a cute doll (I hate this). Whenever this happens he cries bitterly and starts cursing at me saying things like 'hottie go die' or 'go away your trouble magnet', but despite that I know we are friends.

"Come on, we are on a beach and you are still here? Let's go swim!" Mimosa said innocently while pulling me to the beach. Leopoldo was on the distance playing volleyball, Finral was being rejected by the fourth time in the last half an hour, Rill was with a white canvas in front of him as he started painting, Klaus was running around telling people to not be overly intimate in public, and almost being beaten up for it every few minutes, and Mimosa and Illya were already on the water waiting for me.

"Took you long enough, not that I wanted you here or I would be lonely or anything! Don't misunderstand." Noelle said while acting all tsundere to me. "I am royalty, I have many more important matters to take care off than waiting for you."

"Yeah, like getting stuck on a swimsuit store because you couldn't decide which clothes to wear at all." Illya said while laughing in her side, much to Noelle's ire. "It is such a shame that you could never be as cute as me."

"H-heh, at least I have some breast instead of being like you that is as smooth as a mirror while being two years older than me or Shirou." Noelle said, making Illya supper mad. Illya HATED when someone brought that up, especially since she was two years older than both Noelle and Mimosa and both are already developing more than her.

"You want to fight? I will have my berserker show you why my magic is the strongest!" Illya said.

"Then come, little smoothly cute girl. I will face you right here and now." Noelle said, both already preparing to fight.

Before I had to intervene Mimosa already was between the two.

"STOOOP!" Mimosa yelled, making a few people nearby look over, just to stop paying attention when they saw it was just a couple of kids fighting. "We are all friends, so can we please just stop?"

""No"" Both Illya and Noelle said before throwing water at Mimosa, just for Noelle to miss and hit me square in the face.

As the three saw this they all ran to me, but when they got to me I was already up and when they saw some algae was stuck on my face we all started laughing it up.

I truly live a blessed life, I just wanted to know where Sakura is, if she really is in this world I want to see her and make sure she is living alright.

* * *

After playing the entire day, and having to pay the bill for when Finral broke a fence due to being slapped too hard, and apologize in Klaus' name after he disturbed a pair of lovers, and dealing with Leopoldo and his constant challenges to me as his 'rival', I am truthfully spent.

It is like they have infinite energy, or they can convert the mana in the air into energy to move as I was dead tired halfway through. And I train my body like crazy!

Anyway, as it is night already and everyone is going to rest I decided to take a walk on the beach. It is quite peaceful at this time of the day and I just want to relax and look at the moon for a while before it is time to go sleep.

"Onii-chan, what are you doing here?" A girl's voice said and when I turned to see it was Illya.

She was wearing a cute white summer dress and when she saw me walking out she smiled brightly. I also noticed that she was talking to someone else as well, a woman dressed in knight-like clothing and with a beautiful face and braided golden hair.

"Oh, Illya, Charlotte-sama, it is good to see you two here. I was just about to go out for a walk under the moon, now if you two will excuse me." I said, trying to act more formal since Charlotte is a very official type of woman who did not like to talk much with men in general

"No, I will go with you!" Illya said happily as she skipped to my side. She might not remember our previous life but it is undeniable that she still is quite attached to me.

As we were walking out Charlotte put a hand in front of us to stop us from going forward.

"I am sorry, but for his majesty to walk alone at night in a city such as this is completely impossible. At least allow me to accompany you." Charlotte said, and I, unfortunately, know she is quite stubborn. I doubt anything I could do would make her let me walk alone.

Sighing internally we started our quiet walk on the beach. It was quite good since there was now barely anyone out we could enjoy ourselves better and no one would continue trying to pester me (being a prince is more trouble than it is worth it, I'd honestly rather be a commoner that could already go out and save others as much as I wanted instead of being locked away in the castle most of the time) which is always a good thing.

"Onii-chan, show me a trick!" Illya said excitedly, much to my amusement. She has mood swings quite easily and it is honestly easier to just go with her desires instead of trying to deny her, she already is crazy strong with her Berserker Creation magic and I have no desire to antagonize her.

"Sure." I said before creating a bow with my magic. After it was done I created a series of swords that were well crafted and while pulling them into position I added as much mana as I could into them to make them into pseudo broken phantasms.

It was probably my strongest magic I could use right now and in my previous world it would not be that easy to make but here with this abundance of mana and the absurd amount of magic circuits I have this is a piece of cake. I bet even creating an A-rank Noble Phantasm would not be that hard the way I am now, IF I could use my reality marble that is.

As I finished the process I focused myself before releasing my arrows, each one flying in a different direction due to slight differences in their aerodynamics, and when they all exploded in mid-air it was like being back in my old world in that magical night where I saw the fireworks with Illya the first and last time, her happy smile then and now is the same.

CLAP

CLAP

CLAP

I heard clapping behind me and when I turned to see who it was I saw that it was a pair of siblings clapping at what I just did. The boy had dark blue hair with a ponytail in the back of his head and one on the side of his face, both being very long. He had a certain confidence in his movements that is surprising to me and the smell I feel from him makes me want to dance for some reason. The girl, on the other hand, had dark red hair in a long ponytail that went almost to her thighs. She also had a very unique smell in that it made me feel like I am immersing myself into a musical.

The two together even have a certain synergy in that it made me feel like they alone were a living party, it was quite a unique thing but I must admit that it is not bad.

"Sorry for getting in the middle of you guys, it is just that your display was amazing just now. I have never seen so many different colors on the sky like this." The girl said, in which the boy nodded.

"Yeah, but we can't get behind my sister. We will become a pair of dancer and idol one day, so we got to work hard as well" The boy said. "Would you guys like to see? We two have been practicing for a while and having others that we still don't know see us in action would be great as a reference."

Before I could say anything or Charlotte could say no, which she definetly wanted to, Illya already agreed for the three of us. Charlotte wanted to say something, but I just shook my head to her. If Illya wanted to do this then I would not deny her, I owed her way too much for that.

"Okay! Let's go, my sister!" The boy said as the sister nodded before we moved to deeper within the beach as they wanted some firm rocks that were smooth enough for them. Good thing that they knew where it was or I just might have cut a rock somewhere to make a proper 'stage' for them. On the way we started talking and shared our names, their names are Kahono and Kiato and both live here somewhere, even if they wouldn't tell us exactly where at all.

Getting there the two turned to us before giving a slight bow and both started.

It was, it was beautiful.

Easily better than most performances back in the castle, easily so.

Kahono sang with a voice more angelic-like than anything I've seen in this world until now, easily so. It just had a charm to it that I could not help but be mesmerized by her singing, it was just that good. There were even some bubbles that appeared around her that reflected light leading the performance to look even more mystique and great to see.

Kaito, on the other hand, danced with perfect mastery. He even took out a pair of blades that as they moved continued to create a wonderful light show that made Illya mesmerized.

Overall it was a good time, shame that it ended too fast.

When they finished their presentation Kaito was about to say something but Kahono got in the way.

"That would be 1000 yuls, thank you very much." She said with a smile, making her brother almost trip while walking.

"My sister, we just meet then how can you go asking them for money like this?"

"Oh, you are right! Okay, then 100 yuls will do for now." Kahono said, making her brother face-palm.

I only laughed a bit at their antics before taking out a purse I had on my back and giving Kahono the 1000 yuls she asked first. Their performance was that good after all and Illya enjoyed herself so I won't complain about that much, God knows that the entertainment back in the castle is of much lesser quality for a much greater price.

Seeing the money in her hand Kahono was so happy that she caught my hand and started shaking it fiercely.

"You are a good guy, let's be friends okay shi...shito? Was that your name?" She said.

Charlotte was clearly irritated by that one and just as she was about to say something I just smiled and said.

"No, it is Shirou. You can just call me that."

"Oh, okay- Oh," She said, but after continuing holding my hand she started looking at me seriously for a while before saying. "Shirou, are you not taking proper care of your body? There are clear signs of muscle tiredness and small damages in your bones in multiple spots all around. You clearly overworked your body for quite a while now, if this keeps up instead of getting stronger you will only grow weaker."

Hearing this both Charlotte and Illya looked at me with accusatory glances. It was an open secret not only for them but for most nobles and people that lived in the capital that I worked absurdly high for my age, even when instructors tried to lessen my workload I would just use training methods that I know some of the heroes of my past world used as I have to get as strong as possible as fast as possible since I want to go and help others already.

Ignoring the accusatory glares I said.

"Well, I hope this next three days of rest can help me recover enough."

"No, it will be far from enough." Kahono said immediately. "The exhaustion you got on your body is such that naturally, you would need at least a month of rest before it is enough."

Well, that will simply not do. If I were to sit on my but for a whole month, there is no way I can get strong enough to save others.

"But you can leave it to me." She said before she started singing again. This time the bubbles reappeared but with a small white sheen to them as they entered my body slowly, as this happened my body was enveloped in a white light and I could feel the wariness of my muscles be undone and my body getting much lighter and better than before. It was surprising how detailed her control really is, she can aim just enough magic in thousands of small places at the same time with no problem.

Her magic control is probably amongst the best I've ever seen, she might even be better than some of the captains in this aspect. A true genius.

"Okay, that will be 10000 yuls." She said, and before her brother could say anything I gave her the money. Her eyes almost shined in the form of cash when she saw it

"Hey, would it be possible for we to repeat this once every month? It would be quite great if I could continue receiving this treatment." I said, and I mean it. Most healing mages over in this world don't control their magic properly and end up overcharging the body with healing magic and some spots end up healed to the point before my work out and others that need proper treatment are left behind. The nobles doctors are all too used in overpowering any problem instead of giving proper treatment, which makes me dislike them.

Especially since some like to make a show out of it, this is more of a headache for me since I still don't understand why they need to create a unicorn out of healing magic before even healing me. I tell you, there are some nobles that really sucks in their jobs and only even have jobs due to heritage. Kahono's case is different, she works with precision and with her help I feel that I can push myself even harder!

"Okay, but are you sure you can pay?" She asked, and before I could say anything Illya was already in front of me.

"Of course he can, his name is Shirou Kira Clover I, the royal prince and next in the line of succession of the whole kingdom." She said with confidence before patting her chest. "And _I_ am his cute little sister (in consideration) that he pampers more than anyone else in the whole world, Illyasvil von Ki-"

"WOW, so you are a prince? Like a real prince? That is so cool! The next consult will be 20 thousand yuls by the way." She said before turning to her brother. "Did you hear that nii-san, we will be rich!"

And so the two started singing in happiness, it truly is interesting how they act. It made me remember how Taiga sometimes acted, it is so nostalgic.

And like that my training regime got all the more severe, much to the distress of so many people.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **I know, killing of his mother so young is kind of unfair, but I seriously had nothing that I could or wanted to do with her. To be fair there was never anything showing most of the cast, this way at least I gave an explanation to what happened to her for her not to show up. Sorry if someone wanted to see that or the scene of him meeting Illya, I just felt like putting a whole chapter just for that would be too much as there was a lot to happen and if I put a chapter for each thing it would occupy at least 5 to 6 chapters just to introduce characters.**

 **I finished writing the next chapter and in chapter 5 he already will get his grimoire, I don't want to take too long to get to the 'juicy' part of the story as in this start there will not be much in the way of fights.**

 **Also, if anyone has any ideas you would like to share for magics for Shirou, Illya, and Sakura to use please do tell, also if you want some other character to appear from the fate franchise please tell and I will see if I can do anything about it. Maybe expand the other kingdoms beside Clover and Diamond by using fate characters, it could also be possible, but for I to do that I want to know your thoughts.**

 **Thanks for reading. Don't forget to Follow,Favorite, and Review.**


	4. Chapter 4

After my meeting with Kahono and Kaito, and agreeing to meet again in the morning for all of us to hang out together, I returned to the hotel with Illya and Charlotte, who quickly said her farewells before turning in to sleep. The Capital of the Clover Kingdom could arguably be the safest place for the prince of this Nation. The reason for this, was that it was likely as safe as it could ever be, as there shouldn't be anyone stupid enough to try anything against me when it had so many magic knights, as well as one of the knight captains, staying here.

Then again, based off my experiences in my past life, I can definitely say that there may be some people who would likely try it out anyways. Some people just are like that. There are always those small few who just want to watch the world burn after all.

Getting back to my room, I slowly reach out with my right hand, and opened it...

POOF!

Just in time to receive a pillow which slammed directly into my face.

A loud startled exhale later, and I instantly figured out what the heck had happened just now.

"M-My majesty! I am so sorry about that! I, Klaus, will regret this for the rest of my life!" Klaus exclaimed in a panicked manner, as he continued to apologize (adding on to how he was practically throwing himself at my feet and bowing his head rapidly), while both Leopoldo and Finral rolled about in laughter behind him. Hearing their laughter between his apologies, incited his anger as Klaus turned red faced at them before yelling. "Shut up, the both of you! This is all because you threw that pillow at me, Leopoldo-sama! Why the hell did you do that?!"

"Hahaha, I wanted to see if you are a worthy rival for me on pillow throwing, but you still find yourself lacking to be my rival!" Leopoldo replied haughtily, between his laughter before falling backwards, rolling from side to side once more. He was someone who had an extremely competitive side, and wanted to suppress others at all times. Hence, why he disregarded our difference in status and proclaimed himself my rival since I knew him. I honestly found his brother's magic Knights to be like lions, and that he was just like a lion's cub. They were both prideful animals, only in this case it was more of a good sort of pride, and not the kind of arrogance which clouded the minds of so many in this world. Despite being a bit childish, it was undeniable that he is quite talented in fire magic. In the future, he will probably be quite strong, possibly as strong as a servant just like most knight captains are.

"Y-you only managed that because you got Finral's help and you know it!" Klaus accused, causing Leopoldo's eyebrow to twitch and making Finral laugh even more. Finral has changed quite a bit since I met him. He used to be a it gloomy and liked trying to flirt with girls to distract himself from the treatment he had with his family. Although as far as I am concerned, they are a bunch of idiots.

After being recognized by me and learning how there are those who respect him and his efforts, he came to relax more and started to use his magic for pranks. Additionally, he once tried to use his magic to spy under Noelle's skirt as a joke. That was the only time I've seen her actually hit someone like she wanted, and more than twenty times with an accurate aim that could put even me to shame.

Needless to say, Finral experienced Noelle's feminine fury that day... and never wanted it to happen again.

After a round of banter and jokes at Klaus' expense (I swear, the guy is just too easily riled up), I went to tell them what happened to me and the others earlier this evening. Though, I made sure to keep it as simple as possible since I wanted to get some sleep soon.

"So you invited them to hang out tomorrow? What if they are assassins or thieves? Leaving your majesty in such close proximity to potentially dangerous people isn't something I desi-"

"So, are they strong? Do you think one of them could also be a rival for me?" Leopoldo queried, cutting into Klaus' argument and asserting his dominance. Yep, definitely like a lion cub indeed, especially with the look on his face he had right now.

I couldn't help but smirk a little at Klaus's expression. He looked like he was about to burst into the same flames Leopoldo commanded. It was still funny how Klaus got all red faced from this, almost as if he wanted to hit Leopoldo for interrupting him again.

And then came the expected response from a certain womanizer. "If what you said is true, then the girl must be cute, do you think she has an onee-san? If so can she present me to her, maybe comment how cool and stylish I am." Finral questioned while doing a pose. Heck, there was a glittery background done around him that I had no clue how it worked. My guess it was just some sort of spatial magic, though it didn't seem very useful in combat. Might be good for a distraction, though. Still, if it wasn't for the fact that I had dealt with Shinji's brand of comments before I would probably have laughed at Finral's actions.

Just like Leopoldo and Klaus are doing right now.

"To answer your questions, I don't think they are thieves at all. They just like money and probably don't have as much as we do. Also yes, they are definitely quite strong and while I can't say for sure how much, I think you could probably challenge them to a fight of two against one since I think they probably work better when united. As for the last one, I have no idea if they have an onee-san... although, I doubt they would lie so much to the point of telling them you are cool."

When they heard the last part both Klaus and Leopoldo burst into laughter at Finral's expense, but before long we were all enjoying ourselves.

* * *

By the time the next morning came, we each got up, did our daily routines, and promptly met up with Kaito and Kahono. Breakfast had been a fun affair for me and the boy, especially when Finral tried to hit on the waitress which served their meal only to get flat out rejected as usual. Thus, the prompted remarks from Leopoldo and Klaus soon followed suit.

Meeting with the two dancers quickly cheered him up though.

As the two were from around here, even if they never really said where, we were able to enjoy different things, such as unknown restaurants, unique views, and we even found a training ground for Kaito and Leopoldo to fight it out.

Leopoldo won, but when he proposed a tag fight with him and Finral against Kaito and Kahono... the winners were the natives. Though, if I was being honest, I didn't think that they would lose to begin with. It had been obvious to me that the two had been training for a very long time in what they do. They refined their rusty skills to the point where they were now like a sharpened blade. Like a Katana restored to its full glory after having endured a major battle. Even so, the two together are quite amazing, the synergy of their magic is truly incredible. Even then, their win was still quite close since Finral's assistance was still outstanding. Why there were people who said said that his magic was worthless, I will never understand.

"As we won, we will take our prize now, a quick visit to the capital." Kahono requested happily while clapping her hands together with childish excitement. She had said that she never visited the capital in her life and she wanted to do it at least once.

"Okay, I will take you there." Finral said with a shrug, he did not mind doing this sort of thing since going to the capital and back with just us was not difficult for him even though the distance is great. His magic is way too convenient. "I also can take this chance to show off to the ladies back there how I became a magic knight and try to score."

Seeing no one commenting his last few words he decided to drop them and instead just open a portal to the capital. Charlotte was first to enter just to make sure that there wouldn't be any nasty surprises in front of us and Einz was to be the one to come right after me as extra protection. They really worry too much if you ask me. I have never suffered any assassination attempts and in just two years I will get my grimoire, with it in hand I doubt any regular assassin can even hope to beat me, this is not pride just a fact.

After we all passed through the portal, we put on cloaks to hide our identities. After all, royalty walking down the streets is not something you see everyday, and I am sort of a well-known person in the city. It mostly had to do with me being the prince, but actively helping people all around with menial things, creating centers to help the poor, spending my own money to buy medicine for those who are sick in the slums of the capital, anything to help others really. This is just my nature so the attention I get is just too much if anyone asks me, but I don't care much for it anyway since I like helping others and seeing them smile is a blessing.

After we arrived in the capital, we began walking around, it was clear that both Kahono and Kaito were enamored by the whole place as they kept asking question after question which we easily answered.

We visited some of the local parks, passed by Rill's atelier where he showed off all his paintings, went to see some of the capital's popular shops, we even dropped by the black market to buy some items to help in our training, and to let the girls chose some jewels that they liked. After we finished our shopping, we even went to buy some food from the stalls on the streets and had a really good time indeed.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. In this case, it was caused by the interference of some self-entitled asshole that I can't stand. A.K.A. the worse part of my old 'friend' Shinji in a physical form, Finral's brother Langris.

It happened while Kahono was running around with a happy expression, while enjoying her ice cream. However, while she was distracted by her surroundings, she accidentally bumped into him. As a result, her ice cream fell onto his overly elaborated robe and staining it. However, this was all it took. She bumped into him on a crowded street and accidentally dirtied his clothes a bit, and he already looked disgusted.

"Heh, I guess someone doesn't know there place here. So, do you prefer dying or paying me back for my now ruined clothes with your life? Oh, sorry, the life of a hundred of you commoners could never match up to anything of mine, so I..." Langris said as he was about to use his magic on her, but Finral intervened with his own magic and teleported her away before Langris killed her.

My blood boiled when I saw this, the man that liked saying how he would become a magic knight was nonchalantly talking about killing people in the streets for no good reason whatsoever.

This is just one of the reasons why I have a problem with Langris, he might be a genius and all that, but his attitude is just like the worst parts of Shinji. It is almost like the brothers divided Shinji into his not so terrible parts and all the rest.

"Hoh, so she is a girl you picked up on the streets, my useless big brother?" Langris said as he turned to Finral who already removed his cloak. No point in hiding your identity if the other person already knows who you are.

"I see that you are still riding your high horse, little brother." Finral said with a rare tone of steel on his words. Under normal circumstances, Finral is usually playful and would not go against his younger brother, but thanks to our friendship and him learning how he was not useless, his attitude had undergone a major change. This boost in confidence made him no longer fear his younger brother, despite knowing that he would not be able to beat him in a direct fight.

He was a support oriented magician, combat is never something he should have to do directly.

"Oh, no, no, no, older brother. It is not that I am on a 'high horse' or anything of the sort. It is just that this commoner is just too small for me to look her as if she was more than cattle, much like you. Wait, is this why you are together with her? Because you realized that no noble woman would ever love such a stain on my glorious family, so you resorted to look for innocent commoner slaves? Good for you, finally using your head for something." Langris said, making everyone feel uncomfortable.

He is far too conceited. Just as Einz was about to move to dispell this situation Langris decided to open his mouth again. "It must really be hard, living knowing that just commoners and stupid weirdos that do not deserve their positions like that commoner prince, the failure of the Silva family as well as the brash Vermilions would ever respect you. Unlike myself that is loved by everyone that matters and that understand what is important in life."

"So explain to me what I have to do to matter." I said as I removed my cloak.

Have you ever seen someone go from being arrogant to panicking in a second? Well, I am seeing this in a matter of 0,1 second right now. If I didn't know any better, I would say he even used water magic to make so much cold sweat appear on his face so fast. It only grew much worse when Einz and Charlotte removed their cloaks with their own not so pleased expressions.

Oh yeah, slandering the prince or king are easily punishable offenses. If said slander was done lightly, then it would only result in a reprimand and a slap on the wrist. However, if taken too far, then death might already be too good. In Langris's case, what he had said could have easily earned him punishment by execution, especially with my father's temper.

Father might be a no good king, but it was still true that one of the few things he cared for is his image, and if he heard that someone was speaking ill of me, he would take that as an insult to himself, something he can't stand. He doesn't really care if I do what I do, as long as my magic is strong enough and I continue to show that I am the best, 'just like he is', then for him my actions of associating and helping those poorer than me are not important. Magic power is everything to him... that is all that matters.

"If you are thinking that I will punish you severely for what you said, you have nothing to worry about." I said, and I meant it. I know it is petty of me, but this kind of guy isn't someone who should be relied on by the magic knight squads. As he is right now, he is more likely to kill civilians, justifying it as 'honorable sacrifices'. However, due to his family's influence, I know that it is only a matter of time before he becomes one.

Thus, I had made a decision some time ago. If he were to do something terrible and I found out about it, he would get his 'punishment' from me. "I will just have you wait one more year before you get your grimoire. Instead of getting it next year when you are thirteen, you will have to wait until you are fourteen. You will also have to help in the charity I made a while ago, or you can lose any possible rights of heritage from your family. It is your choice really."

I am hoping he goes for the first choice. I am not so much of a child inside. I know his powers could potentially save many people in the future and I do hope his actions are only due to his upbringing. Hence why this 'punishment' is mostly to make him lower himself a bit more and have him connect more with the commoners he so despises. With any luck, he will learn to value them. As he is now, trusting him with his magic amplified by his grimoire and having him be responsible for the safety of others would be too reckless.

Also, I don't like him. He is too much like the scumy, self-centered, and terrible parts of Shinji for my taste.

"B-But I am the son of the Roulacase family, how could someone like me do something so beneath my stat-"

"I do it. Are you trying to say your status is higher than mine and only those like me should help others in any way they can?" I asked, taking a bit of internal pleasure by changing his face with Shinji's in my head and making him squirm.

"Yes... I mean no... I mean... I have somewhere else to go that demands my precious time, so good bye!" He said rushedly before running away while almost crying. It is a guilty pleasure, but he reminds me of Shinji too much and making him run away screaming is not unpleasant.

Seeing his retreating form, most of my friends did not know how to react. Well, that is except for one person.

"Amazing, Onii-chan! To think only words could make that brat run away screaming like this! You really are amazing!" Illya squealed happily, enjoying the distress and misfortune of others much to Einz's personal distress. Her daughter was too much of a sadist, but she still was her daughter and as such was super cute.

"Are you sure this is alright? You were a bit mean to him Shirou." Mimosa questioned with a hint of worry in her voice, as was expected of her caring and gentle nature Like me she loved to help everyone. Although unlike me, she was still far too immature to know how to be firm with others.

However, a hand rested on her shoulder, and when she turned the young girl came face to face with a certain Sylva who shook her head in reassurance. "Don't bother with this, Mimosa. He challenged royalty, this is his just deserts as far as I know." Noelle explained with a matching smile.

"Impudent, to say those words to his majesty like that! Acting like he is superior in any way, he truly is someone I can't stand." Klaus spat, disgust filling his words as if they were poison while adjusting his glasses. It took all his willpower not to snap at the pathetic excuse for a nobleman. That and the fact that his own magic wouldn't be a good match up for Langris' right now.

It was a lesson I had helped him with a while back, to pick his battles wisely. After all, there were just some battles one's magic skill set would not let them win no matter what. Langris was someone who would be strong, incredibly so, but if he keeps going this way he will never truly be someone great and worthy of actual respect. Even now he is only feared, not loved. The only ones who like him this way are his parents who only think of how 'perfect' he is, it kind of reminds me of that blond little shit and his relationship he had with his mother and others from that TV series I watched once with Illya when she was alive, Game of tones or something like that.

Leopoldo was already on the other side of the street, looking at some of the stuff in the shop there. This might seem weird, but he was somewhat like a young beast. He only cared for something if it was a enemy or not and if it was an ally or not. In this case, Langris not classified as an ally and he wasn't so much of an enemy either since Langris would not challenge others that he was not fully confident of winning against. As it stood, he was a bit of a coward right now so facing anyone that could hurt him is unacceptable, which is why he only bullies the 'weak'.

If his magic wasn't strong and his status so high, he would be no different than any other thug. Tough on the outside but weak minded on the inside.

Rill was… yep, he was painting the side of the building. He generally does not seem to care about most things. I think that even if he becomes a magic knight, or even if he reaches the point of being a captain, he would still continue doing things like he very well wants. He is a 'at my pace' kind of guy, and does things his own way from start to finish.

"Guys, let's let it go. We are here to enjoy our time and not to focus on… where is Shirou?" One of them asked while I was already on the other side of the street helping an old lady carry her bags to her house. This is just a small thing, but helping others is never wrong.

* * *

Later on, as the sun began to set, the time for us to return to the hotel was nearing. We were all about to go back when each of us heard sounds of chatter nearby. Curious, we decided to see what was going on. After all disturbances in this town could call for Magic Knight intervention if it were serious enough. Upon our investigation, we found a series of people had started clamoring around a nearby park. The whole thing actually reminded me of an audience in a cinema or a theater. Countless cheers of merriment and excitement filled the air thanks to these people, whom were making quite a bit of noise as some lights started flashing.

"Hey, hey, what is that?" Kahono asked while pulling my arm and pointing to the pretty lights.

"I am not quite sure.. Why not go there and find out?" I proposed to her and the others. When everyone agreed, we all made our way towards the source of the crowd.

The music in the air was quite good and when we actually got there I understood what was going on.

It was a concert, an idol concert no less.

The girls were dancing while making all types of effects with magic and putting them in the show. They made stairs of ice which they climbed while singing, much like that ice princess from the movie Illya made me watch so long ago. At one point where one of them opened wings and took flight while singing a solo, there were all sorts of tricks used and by the end everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves.

In the end, it was Kahono and Kaito who enjoyed it the most. They sang together the best they could and both of them had their eyes shining. It was like they never saw anything like this before as their eyes shined with a bright light.

After the show came to an end, we returned to the park we were before just waiting for Finral to recover enough of his magic energy to transport all of us. Leopoldo tried to challenge Kaito to see who could dance like those people from the show, and he lost terribly. And I really meant the terribly part. He managed to flip himself over and fall face first at the same time while trying to copy them.

Rill got inspired from that and created his new master piece: _the tripping cub_. As its name described, the painting featured a lion cub falling on its side while a big lion and lioness sighed. The fact that it was very well made and detailed did not help Leopoldo's mood.

"Hey! Why are you painting that?" Leopoldo asked with a snarl.

"Oh, that's easy. I got inspiration just now, I just had to put this one my canvas." Rill said, making Leopold try to launch himself at him for this, only to fail as Klaus caught him first.

"Calm down, there is no need to be so angry." Klaus said.

"Oh, I also made this other one. It is named _"Shining Glasses"_. I got inspiration from you Klaus." Rill said without a care in the world as he showed a painting of a pair of glasses shining while people talked to it as if all that mattered were the glasses.

And just like that I had to position myself between the angry lion and glasses... I mean Leopoldo and glasses... I mean Leopoldo and KLAUS.

"Calm down you guys, you know that Rill meant nothing bad from his actions." I said, calming them down just a bit. It would be perfect if it wasn't for Rill taking out a new canvas and drawing a cub and a pair of glasses lunging towards the horizon.

"This one will be _"Wild Knowledge Towards the Infinite"_. I think this is quite decent." Rill said, and just like that chaos was reinstalled.

It was then that a new voice rang through the area.

"Oh, my, good! Isn't it my cute, but not as much as me, little sister and her friends over there where my beautiful eyes are gazing?"

With an actual wave of flower petals a young man showed up. He possessed a scrawny figure, showing that he never put any thought on physical training for his entire life. He has long side-parted red hair that is tied back and has a braid going across his hairline and a thin band around his head. He has two dark hanging earrings and sports the Coral Peacock vest. His name is Kirsch Vermilion, the older brother of Mimosa and a new magic knight of the Coral Peacock squad. He is someone who is very capable, intelligent, a good leader, strong, has good enough morals, wiling to help those who need it, but most importantly...

... He is absolutely narcissistic.

He is not that tough on commoners, especially after I showed him how his vision was wrong a while ago. He and his family had decided to take a trip in the countryside and I went too. Of course under excessive protection, to see how it was. While there we saw a poor girl steal a loaf of bread and Kirsch started talking about how commoners are filthy and tainted, but I wanted to prove him wrong.

I challenged him to accompany me as we secretly followed the girl with the help of a magician from the Purple Orca's named Guedere Poizot, a fat bastard that I disliked from day one. After following the girl for a while we saw where she lived. She was living under a bridge with her two younger siblings and the bread was for them. She even offered some of the bread to a sick man who was close by, before even trying to feed herself. Seeing the girl doing something like that, caring for others and showing such a beautiful smile when she saw her siblings eating made Kirsch diminish most of his prejudice against commoners in general. While he may not enjoy their presence and still sees himself as superior, he isn't so openly hostile against them, nor does he call them tainted or dirty. He still thinks they are ugly, but to be fair he thinks everyone except him is ugly so it isn't that meaningful.

"Oh, and do my beautiful eyes deceive me, or is it that the only person who, despite wasting his time training instead of raising his beauty, yet is still more than beautiful and powerful than most others could ever be, here? It is an honor to see you again, my majesty." Kirsch said, not hiding at all how he despised working out. I deal with him pretty much like I used to deal with the magi from my previous world that were not complete scumbags, by pretending to be Tohsaka and hoping it works out.

"It truly has been far too long, Vermilion-sama. I am glad that you are in good health, we were just about to go back to the beach as we still have one more day to enjoy before we have to pick up where we let off. Now, if you will excuse me." I said, but just as I was about to leave someone took a step forward.

"Hey, I got a question. How did you make your hair so pretty? Mine is nowhere near as shiny as yours." Kahono said excitedly. She did not give much of a crap for formalities so if she has something she wanted to say she would just go ahead and say it.

Kirsch's face was actually kinda funny. It was a mix to want to show disgust from being so informally addressed by a likely commoner and a desire to show off how pretty he is.

"Glad you asked, my hair is this amazing because it is mine. So of course it is beautiful like the most wonderful flower petals. I do use a few creams to help, but the most important point is that it is because it is my hair so there is no other choice but for it to be nothing less than magnificent." He finished while showing that his enjoyment for showing off was more important than his dislike for commoners.

"Oh, then can you write down the names of those creams you use? I would love to know more on how to make my hair more beautiful." Kahono said.

"Sure, but I must admit. Now that I look closer at you I can feel that you might actually have some potential despite your low birth. If you are able, please come to the magic knight selection when you are older. I am sure that you will be able to do great things there as you do have an eye for beauty. Even though not noticing a beautiful visage such as my own is impossible anyway." Kirsch said, again showing off himself.

Rill was in the back painting something, when Kirsch saw this he said.

"What is it you are painting there?"

"Just a second." He said, and after just a few more seconds he was done. "Done, I got inspiration for this new work. It is called _Beauty in Beauty",_ what do you think?"

Kirsch looked at the painting, and I almost threw up in my mouth when I saw it. It was a painting of a half-naked Kirsch hugging another version of himself while the two looked intensely at each other while surrounded by many roses.

Everyone looked the other side, refusing to see that abomination for more than a second... except for Kirsch of course.

DRIP DRIP

"T-This is beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful image before, and I have a mirror to look at the magnificence that is myself." Kirsch said while releasing tears that still looked beautiful on him, as he would say. "Please, let me buy this one. Any price is acceptable."

Before Rill could say anything I took the painting and shoved it at Kisch's hand.

"It is yours, please take it."

"T-thank you very much my majesty. I will keep working hard for the protection of this beautiful kingdom of ours, and even all those ugly sinners that were not born to be nearly as beautiful as the wonderful me." He said and turned to leave, again there were flower petals as he walked.

"Nii-san, let's talk later okay?" Mimosa said to her retreating brother's figure, but was promptly ignored by her brother in favor of continuing to gaze at the abomination of a picture. Mimosa got a bit dejected seeing this. She loved her brother very much but sometimes she thought her brother loved himself even more, and other times she simply accepted his love for himself is bigger than anything she has ever seen before, and it was kind of disgusting really.

"Let it go Mimosa, he is in his own little world right now. Talking to him now is meaningless." Noelle said, much to Mimosa's happiness. I remember how it was a few years ago, the two were getting further and further away from each other for a variety of reasons, but now the two are inseparable friends. It is a relief really, family should be together after all.

I unconsciously put my hand over Illya's head and patted it, there was no exact reason for it, but it is simply because I felt like it.

After all that, Finral finally had enough energy to teleport all of us. He opened the portal and again we did the same as before, the only difference is that before I went in, I pulled Noelle to the side to say a few words with her.

"Noelle, I am glad with what you did. It is good of you to go and help your friend like that." I said.

"H-Humph, it was just my duty as royalty to show the right way to others. I only did what I should have done, so be glad you got to witness it." She said in her haughty tone, but considering her cheeks were a bit red it was clear that she was embarrassed by my words.

"Then thank you for showing me how amazing of a person you are. Also, please don't try to take on all challenges by yourself and learn to rely on others, okay." I said as I gave her a little present I bought a while ago. I was planning on giving it to her on her birthday, but there is no reason to wait a whole week and I feel that right now she deserves a little something. "It is a bit too early, but happy birthday Noelle."

Her eyes got big as she caught the package and opened it. Inside there was a wand, it was not that impressive or beautiful as it was quite basic, but it was all I could buy as I had purchased too many things these last few days. I know her siblings even refused letting her have a birthday party. Mostly because Nebra and Solid, as Nozel simply likes to pretend he doesn't notice her existence at all and the other two are terrible human beings that are only happy when they see someone as inferior to themselves. The fact that the two are clearly despised by me while I spend so much time with Nozel and while also being close friends with Noelle does not help their mood.

"It isn't anything too fancy, and only helps in controlling your mana a bit, but I hope this helps you. Just remember that whatever others may say about you, you are still going to become a great magic knight and shut them all up with your own strength. I am sure you can do it, I will be here for you 100%." I said with a smile. I have seen and known her for too long to not know what she is likely thinking. The day when we from royalty get our grimoires is close. We get them when we are twelve instead of thirteen for high nobility or fifteen for everybody else. She is worried the result will not be good and she will be mocked again by others. That is why her smile today and yesterday were one of the few true smiles I have seen on her for a while now.

If this helps her, then I am glad to do it.

She was quite emotional by the end of this and ended up hugging me, which I happily returned. I am just glad she is happy, but the sly smile I see on Einz's face in the corner of my eyes don't make me happy at all.

Sigh, I can almost hear the rumors already, damn my E-rank luck.

* * *

 **Writer Note:**

 **I just wanted to give a shot out for Crossovernaru for being a beta reader for this story. He was a big help in making this chapter way better than before.**

 **Also, the next chapter will probably be out in a few days. And I changed the summary of the story to now show that I will be adding a few characters from Grand Order so if anyone has an idea he would like to see please tell. I have spots for vice-captains that are still open and there is also the Diamond and Spades kingdom as enemies as well as the Hearts kingdom that is an ally.**

 **There is plenty of space so ideas are wellcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

1 year later

It has been over a year since I started my periodic visits to the beach, and the time spent there was quite beneficial for my training.

Now that I do not have to worry so much about the damage my body could take, I took things a few steps higher by using weights on all my limbs and spared with as many magic knights as I could. It was quite a reckless period of training. It was so intense that most people believed that I was going crazy as I barely stopped to eat and drink. Not to mention that my average sleep cycle was just under 4 hours.

I want to become a magic knight as soon as possible, which is why I need to reach a level of strength that will make at least one captain want to break regular rules and accept me as a member. Finral managed it, but he was already 14 and the regular age is 15 so the difference wasn't that big anyway. Another interesting thing is that Rill got his grimoire a few months ago and is now a member of the magic knight squad, the Azure Deer, which also happened to be the former squad of the current magic king.

I am currently doing push-ups with a weight on my back. More specifically it is Mimosa who accepted giving me a little hand in training.

Along with her magic power, Mimosa's beauty had also grown in the last year. She is from a good bloodline and is well known for being gentle and meek, so, of course, many noble idiots are trying to approach her to ask for her hand in marriage even though she is only twelve. I, obviously, stop them before they can try anything since she is still far too young and it is clear as day that most of them only care about her name instead of her. It is also clear that those who do care for her are usually lecherous old men who are clearly far too old for her, but don't appear to think so.

It irritates me, but I know that the only solution is just to keep being by her side and saving her from this situation. Interestingly enough, both Illya and Noelle did not receive any such request for their hands. Illya because she once used her Berserker to knock out a fool that tried to take certain liberties with her during a party. Suffice to say, she did not care about the situation they were in as she still wanted to see the idiot's blood for trying to feel up her butt. I am proud of Illya for that one, some of these nobles only listen when they don't have teeth in their mouths to talk back it seems.

In Noelle's case, well she simply wasn't wanted. She was pretty, there was no denying that, but the fact that she was so low in status in comparison to the rest of her family line and despised by the other members, along with the fact that she was unable to truly control her magic, made her simply undesirable. After all, no one among the nobles wanted kids that would be useless and they all feared her kids would be as such.

"Hey, Shirou. Are you excited about tomorrow? I heard the captains will be taking us to see the knight selection and after that will be our ceremony to get a grimoire, isn't it exciting?" Mimosa asked while continuing to sit on my back.

"Yeah, that will be good. I want to see exactly what level I must reach to be approved as a magic knight so this is a good chance." I said.

Mimosa smiled in a sly way and said.

"Are you sure it isn't because Sol-san will be there?"

"Well, I can't deny that I would like to see her again. She has gone to train for a while now and I did not meet her for that long either. So yes, it would definitely be nice to meet her again." I said.

Sol Maron was a friend that I made seven years ago after I saved her from bandits that attacked her village. She has grown up to be quite strong-willed and direct about what she wanted. It was actually quite refreshing when compared to being surrounded by nobility that most of the time lie as if it was second nature to them. The last time I saw her, was when she had just gotten her grimoire and went on a trip to improve her skills as she wanted to be a magic knight. There was also Gordon Agrippa, a quiet man with a weird pale face. He is also my friend... I think. It is a bit hard to say as he usually speaks very quietly, but I could feel his good intentions despite his magic being the polar opposite of his personality. In a way, it reminded me of a weakened version of the corrupted grail. An evil and cursed magic so to say.

"Hey, do you think I can do it too? Be a good magic knight I mean." Mimosa said, showing her weak side.

"Sure you can. You might not be the best when it comes to direct combat, but you will definitely save hundreds or even thousands with your flower magic." I said encouragingly while stretching one of my hands to my back to pat her head as I kept doing push ups with just one arm. (How would that work?)

"Yes, yes you are right. Just wait Shirou, I will help lots and lots of people, and I will help you to when we both become magic knights." She said while looking ahead with a serious face, before taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat from my forehead.

"Thanks." I said making her smile a bit.

The two of us stayed like this for a while before I had completed this series of exercises and asked her to get up. After she did, I stood up and stretched myself a bit. I know it might be a bit vain to say it, but my body is definitely made out of sheer muscles and is much stronger than what I had in my previous world.

The excessive mana in this world made physical training much easier. The limits that a human body from my world was many times higher in this world. I don't even know what the actual limit was, or if there even is one as the blood from people in this world was a bit different. The mana in the air made the bodies of those who train here grow stronger and stronger, much like the heroes from the Age of Gods in my old world.

It was a bit terrifying actually. I am only twelve but I could do five hundred push pus with one hand and five hundred with the other and not feel that tired. I am growing to the point that, by the time I am fifteen, I will probably be able to match a servant in the physical department despite being human. I could probably even match the weaker servants physically as I am now. That was something to seriously think about.

After I finished my current exercise, I went to a pole that I made a while ago and flipped myself over to lock myself upside down on it using only my feet. I then caught two weights with my hands and started doing squats upside down to make my legs stronger. This one is a bit shorter of an exercise since I only do it for tree hundred repetitions but the weights, which were about thirty kilograms in each hand, are not doing me any favors.

And as I continued doing a light training (by my measurement) me and Mimosa continued talking.

"Did you hear? Langris will be getting his grimoire tomorrow as well. There are even talks of him already being invited into Golden Dawn to be a member there even though he hasn't gotten his grimoire yet." Mimosa said.

"Yeah, I heard of it. I also heard he mellowed out somewhat after the punishment I gave him. It is good that he has done so, otherwise I would have to worry about you too. After all, you intend to join Golden Dawn later on, right?"

"Yes, this way we all can be together. It is just a shame that Finral, Rill, Illya and Leopold went to other squads, but with you Klaus, and Noelle there I am sure everything will be great in the Golden Dawn. We will have so much fun." She said excitedly.

I can't tell. I really can't go and tell her that I have zero intentions of joining the Golden Dawn. It is something she has desired for a long time. Almost since I first knew her and she decided to become a magic knight. However, I don't want it at all. Their current captain, Willian Vangeance, is creepy as all hell for me. Just the mere sight of him rubs me the wrong way. It almost makes me think that he is up to something, especially for me. The first time I met him, and even on several other occasions, whenever he looks at me something within him surges and just for second, I can feel a faint feeling of rage coming from him. The idea of me being close to him is just asking for bad things to happen.

I don't intend to stop the others, they have their own lives and I know that they are all relatively safe since the only times I feel that danger is when he looks at me. If I am not around, it is unlikely that William will try anything.

"Hey, do you think it would be bad if I were to help make a meal for tomorrow to commemorate the occasion?" I asked, mostly thinking out loud than anything else.

"Huummm, I guess it is fine. Everyone already knows you like to cook and it will mostly be just for those of us that are getting our grimoires and our friends that pass the exams. Plus, I think the others will like it too." She said happily. "Maybe we can even invite Finral to come too since he is likely going to be in the capital and I bet Capitan Yami will want to grab a bite as well."

Yeah, Yami is likely to do that. He is weird for a knight captain. He does not seem to care that I am a prince as he likes gambling with me and striping me of all the money he possibly can. He loses every once in a while and when it happens, he pays me by teaching me some tricks for physical training he did growing up, experience on how to better beat different and unique types of magic, and most importantly how to use ki like him. It is like he is a teacher that is overly expensive since he gets most of my money when he gambles with me. Normally I would be mad to lose money that should have gone to charity, but I know he will lose everything to people that likely need the money, so tat works out just fine.

After that, we just kept talking until it was lunch time and I had to wrap up my workout routine since I had to go to magic training. it appears that in this world, it seems like it is possible for one's magic power to grow over time so despite my current absurd capacity, I still train to raise it further. My objective is to one day be able to create and use something on the level of Excalibur with no issue.

* * *

I was now sitting with both Mimosa and Noelle as we were waiting for the magic knight selection to begin taking place at a Colosseum within the city. We decided to sit on one of the many chairs around us, but unsurprisingly we were made to sit quite close to the knight captains that were in attendance. The problem was that no one could enter an agreement over which captain I should sit closer to. Yami, Nozel, Fuegoleon, Jack the Ripper, Charlotte, and Gueldre Poizot all wanted me closer, but I definitely didn't want to get any closer to Gueldre. He is definitely the type of person who will likely try to swindle me just to get more money. Jack wasn't much of an option either, since he will likely start asking me when I will get strong enough for both of us to try and slice each other up.

Yep, these magic knight squads are two I don't feel that I should enter at all.

In the end it was decided by a game of luck. The first eliminated was Yami for obvious reasons (he can lose to me on luck, enough said), and in the end, I was to sit between Charlotte and Nozel. It was cool for me, but Noelle almost shrank to half her size as Nozel looked in her direction. I put a hand in her shoulders and gave her a smile, calming her down by quite a bit. I think I heard something about 'excessive good natured' from Nozel just now, but it might just be my imagination.

"We now shall begin the examination." William said as he distributed a bunch of crystals throughout the field. "Put your hand in the crystal and depending on the amount of energy you have it will increase the crystal's brightness. This is a very simple test that we designed to know how much magical energy each of you have."

After he finished with the instructions, people started pouring their energy into said crystal as fast as they could, in the hopes of catching the attention of some of the knight captains. However, it soon became clear that the test was not simple. Most people barely lit up their crystals and only a small group of participants seemed to show off higher amounts of energy.

Four of those who showed a high amount of energy were people I was familiar with. Langris (the shiniest crystal was his), Sol, Klaus and Gordon, but from the others that showed signs of a higher power I could only call them a colorful bunch. One was a delinquent type with light grey hair on the top of his head in the form of a Mohawk, and black hair on the sides, and was wearing sunglasses. Everything about him seemed to be trying to say he is a delinquent. Another one was a kid with blond hair that was smiling happily while using the biggest piece of crystal he could find to try and hit someone on his side for no good reason. His shine was the second brightest out of everyone here. And the final one I noticed was… is that a little girl? Why is someone so little here? And why is she eating pie with one hand while doing this test?

...These guys are weird.

After that test, many others took their position in preparation for the final test. Langris having scored the highest out of everyone else, but with the smiling guy in a close second and Sol being the third best.

"Now, we will begin the final test." Fuegoleon said. "This is the most direct and simple test, you guys will form pairs and fight. You may use your grimoires to fight."

"Fighting is what we do, so if you guys suck then there is no meaning to choose you unless you have some more unique skills." Yami said.

"We have magicians with healing magic on standby so do not be afraid of the battle. The moment someone loses consciousness or is incapable of continuing means defeat. Now, begin!" William said.

The battles started next, the first one up was the petite girl against some guy with a relaxed and conceited face. The petite girl was munching on a bag of chips as she entered the stage beside the guy.

"Hum, I will defeat you now and show everyone, especially the prince, the magnificent sand magic of me, Diorno!" The male said as the girl just kept munching on her chips even as the sign was given for the battle to commence. Both opened their grimoires at the same time and while Diorno launched a wave of sand the petite girl launched a wall of cotton to defend herself.

"Hoh, you are better than I expected. But you still are not a match for-

"How dare you, la?" The girl said while trembling in rage. "My precious food is all covered in sand now! I can't eat it anymore, and all because of YOU!" After that last word was spoken, a giant... is it just me or did she just make a giant fluffy sheep? And why is it that looking at it reminds me of a pissed off Berserker? The male tried to launch his sand again, but the giant fluffy sheep just inhaled and sucked away all the sand he launched.

"Cotton Creation Magic: Sleeping Sheep Strike!" And with that the giant gave one big punch at her opponent, sending him flying away at high speeds towards the back of the field.

Impressive, her magic seems to be quite versatile. It can go from defense to offense quite easily. If done right, maybe she can also use it to lock others with it too.

"Winner, Charmy Pattison." The announcer spoke, but it was clear that the girl was still very sad. This gives me an idea, as the next match was about to begin, I excused myself to go to the bathroom but as I was leaving I sent a signal to Finral who was standing beside Yami and a very fat guy to come with me.

As the two of us left the viewing area I turned to him.

"What is it Shirou? Bored of the company of two pretty girls and want to change with me for the buffy old man and a fat weirdo that doesn't talk?" Finral said, clearly not afraid of the fact that Yami could probably hear his words despite the distance. The man had great ears when he wanted to and I bet Finral will get what is coming to him for having said that.

"No, I am good. I just wanted to know if you could open a quick portal close to that girl who won just now. I wanted to give something to her to eat since her snack was ruined." I said, making him shake his head in exasperation.

"Always the one worried for others. Fine, I will help you. This is what friends are for, to support each other even if the other is doing something dumb." Finral said as he opened a portal.

It truly is impressive, his magic could truly make all the difference in so many scenarios that thinking that he is useless like his family does is inconceivable for me.

Giving him a quick thanks I put the upper part of my body through the portal, appearing right above the dejected girl.

"La, so hungry, la." She said while rubbing her tummy. Her name is Charmy, right? Well, now that I look at her closer I can say that her name somewhat fits her quite well. She is truly is quite charming, almost like a grade schooler even though she is older than me. Somewhat looking at her makes me think of Taiga, which makes seeing her upset due to hunger all that much harder for me.

"Hey, you are hungry right?" I said, making her jump in shock. As she turned to me I raised my hands in 'surrender'. "Calm down, I was watching your fight and saw how you lost your snack so I thought of bringing you a new one." As I said that I pulled out from a bag I was carrying in my belt a smaller bag filled with freshly made cookies I made this morning. Cooking is one of the few things that makes me stop training for a while so after a while my instructors started asking me to cook more in the hope of letting me relax. This arrangement was fine for me since I don't take very long to cook something, and it is a good way to clear my mind of everything unnecessary and relax.

As Charmy accepted the bag of cookies she took one in her mouth, and it was like she received a thunder strike running throughout her entire body as she was paralyzed from head to toe. I was about to pass the portal when a voice rang out and a person came running.

"My majesty, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be up there with the magic knight captains?" Klaus said as he ran to where I was.

"Calm down Klaus, I just came here to help her with her problem, that is all."

"Even so, you should be more vigilant of your surroundings. You are the prince of this whole kingdom, the next in the line of succession. You should treasure yourself more." Klaus said while adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, but isn't this why I need the help of guys like you? I can't stop helping others. I just love doing that no matter what, so I need people to support me. That is something I know that you can do too so thank you and good luck in your match." Klaus got a bit flustered from is compliment. I guess he does get embarrassed when someone says these things to him, but what I said is true.

In my previous life, I did everything alone. In the end, it was only me against those terrorists so I started wondering while growing up again if by having others by my side things could have been different. I will not regret my actions, saving lives is and will always be a good thing, but if I am alive I can keep saving people. Also, living a more normal life this time taught me to appreciate friends much more as I know how precious they are.

"O-Of course, it is my duty as a part of the nobility and a magic knight to help you in your endeavors of helping others from our kingdom." He said, staggering a bit at first, before resuming his composure. He delivered fluidly and with certainty like it was the most obvious thing and that I shouldn't even have to talk about it, despite the fact his slightly flushed face told a different story about how he feels from my compliment.

"Anyway, I have to go now. Tell Sol and Gordon that I am rooting for them." I said before turning to Charmy one last time while she recovered and started devouring the cookies in her hand like her life depended on it. "Slow down, there are only so many cookies there. If you are hungry later you can come with Klaus later to a little gathering we are making afterward where there will be plenty of food." When I said that it was like she heard divine words as she clasped her hands in prayer and looked very emotional and surprisingly cute. Damn, seeing someone like that reminds me way too much of a mix of Taiga and a little child, so much so that I feel like spoiling her. I like to cook and I especially like when others like my cooking, so I decided to pull out a pack of chocolates I had made a while ago and give it to her.

After that, I turned around and left. If I take too long it is possible that Nozel will be even more pissed that I am not around while Noelle is, if this world had telepathy I would ask him to go there to deal with this situation between him and his sister. It is just a shame that there isn't. But, I guess me telling others to get treated for thinking something they shouldn't is quite a bit hypoctitical huh?

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

As Klaus was about to leave that place Charmy held his cloak.

"Hey, who was that guy? I want to thank him later, la." Charmy said, causing a tick mark to appear on Klaus' forehead. He, just as many others, was quite protective of Shirou as he saw the young prince as the hope for an even better future for the whole kingdom. So seeing someone acting so casual towards the prince was not exactly something Klaus approved of by any means.

"That 'guy' you just saw is his majesty Shirou Kira Clover I. He is the prince and next ruler of the nation. He is not someone that anyone can get close to." Klaus said. He was quite elitist even though he was capable of seeing those from lower birth as equals and respect them, it was only after they proved themselves as someone who deserved to be treated as such.

'He might he be my Meal-Serving Prince? I need to think it a bit more to be sure.' She said to herself before taking one of the chocolates he gave her and put it in her mouth for the first time.

It was like paradise covered her mouth and heavenly hymes exploded around her. She could not resist showing a goofy and loose smile as she enjoyed the taste of what could only be food made by the God of cooking himself, no! It was not the god of cooking who did this, it was-

'He IS my Meal-Serving Prince!'

Ignoring Charmy's expression Klaus turned around and was about to leave when he encountered a young man with a lean build and dual colored hair, with light grey hair at the top and black hair at the sides. Additionally, he also sported what looked to be a black Mohawk. Not to mention that, one other notable thing about his facial features was the straight line marking surrounded by three pairs of dots on the left side of his forehead. He also sported a white shirt covered by a navy leather jacket and navy trousers, along with a jacket that covered half of his torso. He wore black finger less gloves, a pair of blue shades, a pair of black boots, a chain hanging from the left side of his waist connected to his trousers and a belt that he uses to support his pouch containing his grimoire. The pouch is black and has a skull and crossbones symbol at the front.

"Hey! You are one of those shitty nobles, right? Let's fight, I want to see what is so good about you guys from nobility for you to think you can lord over those like me." The delinquent proudly proclaimed while pointing directly at his face, making Klaus wrinkle his nose a bit. The moment that he first opened his mouth, Klaus had an idea of how he would act just from how he presented himself. Brash, hot-headed, little respect for his betters. It was a common thing amongst those of common birth who despised nobility. As a result, he both felt glad and annoyed. Glad that he didn't encounter the prince first and rather him instead, since that meant the Prince didn't have to waste his precious time on him. In addition to that, Klaus felt annoyed for having to deal with this kind of person anyways since he was the exact opposite of Klaus himself.

Nevertheless, Klaus refused to run away from this just so he didn't have to waste any time on him. Aside from him potentially wasting the Prince's time, he knew he had to find someone to face in the end. Even so, part of him had wished that he would have ended up facing someone with a LITTLE more elegance than this troglodyte, but then again teaching him a lesson about why nobility had the position it had wasn't such a bad idea.

"Fine, we shall do this." Klaus replied evenly, as he took to the stage with said man.

The announcer saw the two entering the field and loudly proclaimed the next match ups.

"We shall now begin the next match. In one side is Magna Swing, on the other is Klaus Lunettes. Ready, FIGHT!"

As soon as the signal was given Magna opened his grimoire.

"Fire Creation Magic: Grand Slam! I am gonna crush you, dumbass."

As he said that, his magic activated. from his grimoire, which erupted with this fiery aura. He put his hand inside the open Grimoire and removed a fire bat from its pages. As he did that, he began generating fireballs one after another in his hand, repeatedly swinging the bat like he was playing that 'baseball' game people have been going on about recently.

However, the Noblemen showed little concern for the incoming attack, especially when he detected the weak levels of magic coming from it. Weak as in slightly above average for a commoner, that is.

"Steel Creation Magic: Steel Castle Armored Wall." he muttered under his breath when his own Grimoire floated before him. Once he invoked the spell, a wall of steel surged from the ground, blocking all the attacks from Magna as evident by the constant BOOMS which rang behind the wall. Raising his hand again, Klaus pushed up his glasses in a condescending manner, although when he spoke there was little of such emotion in his tone. "I trained to protect myself and his majesty, breaking my defense will not be as easy as you think."

All that did however, was make Magna, madder as his brows twitched violently. "Oh yeah? Then wait till you see THIS!" Magna yelled as he discarded the flame bat and created a single fireball that he caught in his hand. He then set about entering in a pitching position much like those used in baseball. "Take this, Flame magic: Exploding Fireball!" As he said as he launched the ball with an impressive amount of magic power. It did manage to penetrate the wall of steel from Klaus, but just as the first wall crumbled to nothingness, Klaus had made two more quietly while Magna was focusing his own powers for his strike.

Something which pissed him off all the more.

As Magna started taking deep breaths due to how much energy he used for that last spell, Klaus quickly recalled his lessons in combat and made his move. While he was no Shirou, he did learn that underestimating one's opponent in battle could cost them their life. Even an underdog could prove particularly vicious if it bit into a person's weaker areas. His grimoire shined again as he turned to a new page.

"Steel Creation Magic: Steel Guardian Palm." He spoke, thus from the ground near Magna, a steel palm flew upwards, hitting him directly while he was distracted and not only wounding him but also pressing him against the ground before the palm turned into a heavy chain locking him on the ground.

"Match end, the winner is Klaus Lunette." As the announcer said that Klaus adjusted his glasses. Something like this was only to be expected. Since he was a nobleman and this guy a commoner. The difference in magic potential was too great. At least, that was what he used to think. However, thanks to Shirou, other things had come to light for him. However, before any of that, he moved to close to Magna, standing before him. Afterwards, he looked down on the Mohawk-haired male, and spoke in a condescending tone.

"I am going to become a magic knight and guard this kingdom and his majesty. A commoner like you who is brash and doesn't show any sign of respect is unwelcome here. Go home and train again." As he finished that he turned around and undid Magna's seal, when the delinquent was free he punched the ground and yelled in frustration.

After that the other matches continued at a normal pace. The others with high amounts of magic were winning with a good use of their skills. The most shocking one was Langris, who impressed most captains with his space magic attack power but lost points with some due to how he brutally tried to finish off his opponent for the 'sin of wasting his time', and the others who surprised everyone were Sol, who beat Gordon after a close fight that was definitely the highlight of the competition, and the smiling kid who almost killed his enemy thanks to beating him too much with thunder punches. During this whole thing Shirou kept talking with Mimosa and Noelle about the fights, the two girls were quite excited to see so many mages fighting and so many interesting and unique magics. Even Nozel commented during the fights, asking Shirou questions on how he would deal with different types of opponents that were in the field and he appreciated the answers as the fighting theories on how to approach the situations Shirou proposed were quite decent and realistic with his current skillset. More and more Nozel thought he should add Shirou into his squad as soon as he acquires his grimoire. This thought made his mood great, which of course was spoiled by the fact his useless little brother Solid had to open his mouth to make 'corrections' to Shirou's ideas and proving, again, that intelligence and talent definitely skipped Solid during his birth leaving him with... yeah, he didn't have much to his name at all.

Finally, it was the selection time. Unsurprisingly most people in the stadium did not get selected but from those who did they were quite happy. Sol went for Blue Rose, Klaus went for Golden Dawn (only Shirou noticed how he did a fist bump after he walked away from the center of the stage), Langris also entered Golden Dawn (at that little detail Klaus, who had been full of excitement dropped his shoulders when he realized he would have to work with the talented little shit) and Gordon together with a few others like the smiling kid named Luck, Magna, and Charmy were all decided for Black Bulls.

"Now, it usually is at this point that the new squad members go to their captains, but today is a joyous day," At this comment, most of those who were not chosen showed annoyed and mad faces, but they listened anyway as the announcer continued. "Today is the day that those with Royal Blood can go obtain their grimoires, the day that our dear young prince Shirou Kira Clover I will receive his grimoire, and as such it was decided that the captains will later reunite those of you that did not make it this time and give you all lessons about magic and share their experiences in hopes that you all can become splendid magic knights that will one day help guard our glorious kingdom and our dear young prince Shirou!"

"""""""UUOOOOOOHHHHHH!"""""""

Everyone was excited at hearing this, the knight captains were the best of the best so knowing they would teach them even a little meant a lot for those who failed. It meant a possible advantage for next year and, with luck, they just might manage to make it next time thanks to this opportunity.

"However, before teaching can start the knight captains will go with his majesty to the grimoire tower of our capital to the ceremony, those who passed the exam can accompany the captains for the ceremony." As the announcer said that those who did not pass showed some envy towards those who passed as they too wanted to see his majesty obtain his grimoire. It was a well-known fact by now how Shirou acted and as a result many of those from common birth liked him much more than most other nobles as he never went against them. In fact, he even went against other nobles whenever he saw them abusing those who were weaker. His populairty was was especially high since he managed to open daycares for the mothers to leave their children at while working, giving medicine to the poor in the slums, and using what money he had to help any farming villages that were going through difficult times.

It was also known that his talent in magic was absurd since he was young but he never to such a point that a lot of people believed that he just might be the reincarnation of the first magic king and a saint from long ago. Just being present during his ceremony of getting a grimoire was already an honor that most desired by a large degree, something that was not shared by a few of those who passed the exam. Charmy only cared about food, Luck just wanted to fight, Magna simply did not believe the stories about the prince one bit, and Langris outright despised the prince so none of them were especially thrilled to go to this event, but they still had to go. If only because otherwise their new captains might not like their actions.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

Upon entering the tower, I will admit that it was a bit staggering to see so many grimoires. Standing alongside me are Noelle, Mimosa, and Leopold as the only ones of royal blood who were currently of age to get their grimoires.

Behind us the knight captains and the other magic knights entered the building, positioning themselves close to the edges.

No one was there to start the ceremony, so I was confused since I expected one of the knight captains to do it. Instead, I suddenly felt an overpowering smell. It hit me within a fraction of a second, but at the same time dragged itself throughout my being for a long time. Just as I was getting used to it someone walked in.

It was a tall, middle-aged man with short messy blond hair, and grey eyes. A long red cape that covers most of his entire body with the part around his torso covered in white fur and with a golden necklace, and with a blue asterisk symbol on the left side of his forehead. His magic is absurd, easily surpassing even Caster, and she was a magician from the era of the gods.

This is Julius Novachrono, our kingdom's 28th magic king.

When he saw the four of us he said.

"Be calm, young ones. It is a tradition that whenever someone of the house Kira is about to receive their grimoire, the magic king that must be present to ensure that no mistakes will happen." He explained, even though I could barely hear him as I was still trying to adapt to the sudden pressure.

Seeing me struggling, he seems to have understood what I was feeling so he dialed down his energy to a point that I could breath in peace again. I never felt so much pressure since I faced Berserker, not a smart move, or since I fought two Dead Ancestors at the same time. Now that was DEFINITELY not a smart move.

As he finished speaking, he put his hand forward and with it thousands upon thousands of books started flying all around us. Before long Leopold obtained a red grimoire with a sun in the cover and a three-leafed clover in the middle. Noelle obtained an aqua colored grimoire with a three-leafed clover and many symbols around it that made it look like a work of art. Mimosa's had a light colored grimoire that also had a three-leafed clover in the center with several rose designs all around it.

However, when it came time for me to receive my grimoire, something unexpected happened.

The problem was that my grimoire was, for the lack of better words, currently being debated as three grimoires hovered above me. All three of them seemed to be disputing on which one of them would be my grimoire. I simply stood there not knowing what to do at all. As the captains started getting restless thinking this might be dangerous, a bright flash of light enveloped the room, obscuring everyone's vision of the grimoire as all three of them collided.

It was a unique spectacle, like something right out of a legend. As the grimoires united and a wave of energy passed over everyone. However in my case, I felt something different. I felt a connection to the book, almost like it was a key to my reality marble, Avalon, as well as some other unique form of energy. What caught my attention the most as it hit my hand was how it was different from everybody else's grimoire. It was like it was divided into three equal thirds. One looked like a multitude of swords united with all types of colors to it, another looked almost like a picture right out of Unlimited Blade Works with the legendary swords and noble phantasms on the ground in a sunset, and the last one looked like a natural paradise with a lot of light and drawings of plants all over it. Although, the thing that I was really focused on was the simple fact that in the center of the grimoire, rested a four-leaved clover.

As everyone was looking at it in shock it suddenly opened itself with unexpected speed and from it, a page full of words showed up right in the middle. I watched it move in confusion since I definitely did NOT open it myself despite feeling the connection between me and the book. I was cautious as I saw the words shining and from it something popped out.

It was a small figure, it looked just like a blue-clothed fairy with a pretty, yet cold temperament.

As it turned to me and said, "So you are the new master of my world, huh? I guess it could be worse. My name is Avalon and I am your contracted spirit."

I officially have no idea on what is going on, but one thing is for certain. My life just got a whole lot more complicated, especially when the magic king pretty much teleported to my side and before I knew it I was somewhere else entirely.

Once we arrived I took a step back from him as he looked at me with a serious expression.

"Show me." he said, making me confused. All of a sudden his eyes lit up like jewels as he spoke again, "Show me your magic, I am just too curious about it! I have never even heard of multiple grimoire uniting into one! Especially not in such a unique way as yours. Not to mention a spirit being united with you from the moment you get a grimoire, and one I have never heard off before?! I just HAVE to know what you can do. Please, please, please." At that last bit, his eyes carried traces of tears as he looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

How a grown man can use those eyes so shamelessly is beyond me, I know saying that is somewhat hypocritical of me since in my mind I am also older than I am right now (I died when I was 29, so I am mentally over 40), but my body is still one of a child's and much like Illya used to, I will take full advantage of that.

Sighing I decided to accept his request. Hiding my magic from him is useless since I know I will have to use it anyway, and in this world magic is just common knowledge. The thing is that I myself don't have a clue about what I can actually do with this grimoire.

With this, I opened my strange grimoire, and I saw that several pages were already filled, but the weirdest thing was that some of them had complex magic spells with the names of some of my friends. I also noticed that right in the middle of it was the page connected to Avalon and after that, there were just the names of many different Noble Phantasms. As I felt the connection between myself and my grimoire grow, I could feel information about it flow into my brain. If what I understood is correct and I mastered it, there is a very real possibility that I could be just as strong as someone like Gilgamesh. It is just that absurd of a grimoire after all.

I put my hand on one of the first few pages and activated the spell.

"Weapon Creation Magic: Great Rose Whip Mimosa!" As I said that I took out of the grimoire, a whip made of a big vine with a rose on the hilt, along with several thorns covering the whole weapon. I never wielded such a weapon before as it had no relations to swords, but for some reason wielding it was quite easy. I felt like I could control it almost instinctively and any thoughts I had allow me to move the weapon as I wanted.

"Ohhhh, What can it do? Tell me, please tell me!" The magic king said excitedly.

I was about to speak that I still didn't know, but suddenly another wave of information flowed into my mind.

"Excuse me umm, Julius-san?"

"Yes?"

"I feel that it would be better if I showed you. Do I have your permission to engage in combat with you for the purpose of demonstrating my abilities."

Julius blinked but smiled as he nodded, "That seems like a reasonable request. Very well, attack when you are ready."

I nodded and for about three seconds, we stood there eyeing each other up. Then without warning, the rose whip moved on its own as it flew towards Julius. IN a flash, he disappeared just as the whip crashed into the ground.

"So fast", I spoke aloud while trying to pinpoint his location. My sense of smell flared as I pinpointed his energy, and in that instant the whip changed direction straight up towards Julius who flashed away again, back in front of me. When I some it just appear, I instinctively raised my hand. Without warning, the speed of the whip suddenly increased as it flew towards Julius who was surprised by the unexpected burst of speed.

He quickly regained his composure and quickly disappeared from the spot as the whip collided with the ground with more force than before. He quickly reappeared next to me.

"All right I think that's enough testing for now. Got to say you really caught me off guard there for a second. So what did you learn?"

I nodded in confirmation as I dispelled the whip and it vanished in a shower of magic energy. "I can control its movements with just a thought, when I move my hand the speed and power of the whip drastically increases too. I can also make it grow to increase its range, or use it as a shield to protect my allies. Even if its damaged, the whip is able to regenerate itself as long as it has magic being supplied to it. However, I can only use this ability it to protect others." I explained. It is quite surprising, it isn't that great as a weapon, but the unpredictability of its movements is great and the fact it has a protective function to guard others makes it even better.

"Wow, that is a great weapon. It is a bit of a shame that you can't use it to protect yourself, but it will still be quite useful later on. Are there more?"

"Let' find out." I said as I also couldn't help but feel excited. Call me weird, but somehow these weapons from the first half of the grimoire feel much more intimate to me than those from my reality marble. Not only because they are mine and mine alone, but because I feel like they all have the function of protecting or sealing one away instead of just killing. Looking over at the pages that were complete I chose a different one this time. "Weapon Creation Magic: Mercurian Claw Nozel."

This time a claw-like weapon materialized around my hands. The weapon was made of mercury with three talons similar to those of an eagle. It wasn't much in terms of design, but there was a feeling of grandeur on them, unlike most of my other weapons. Even some noble phantasms, could never compare.

Before the magic king could ask I charged towards him claw raised forward. He jumped up but I quickly shifting my body sending my other clawed and at him. As he leaned back in mid air the claw extended past him into the air. WIth a thought the claw quickly came back to me. As Julius landed back onto the ground, I raised both arms into the air, before bringing them down and slashing the ground creating waves of dust and debris in the process that temporarily obscured his vision.

As he attempted to pinpoint my location I concentrated my magic into one of my claws. A few seconds later, I burst out from behind him with one of my claws three times its original size. Julius dodged just as I brought the claw down where the force was enough to leave a large indent in the earth.

As he resumed a more relaxed stance, I willed the claws to disappear, and they vanished in a manner similar to the whip. "This weapon is capable of extending and retracting quite easily. Even if damaged, it barely costs anything to replace them, and despite their current size, when I put more of my magic energy into them, I can make them grow in size. I can even separate parts of the claws to serve as restraints able to seal away a person's magical energy." I left out how it was weak against fire, and that currently the time it takes to decrease or increase the weapon's size is still slow. However, with proper training, I can make it change size just as fast as it takes to materialize something like a black key.

"Wow, your weapons are indeed quite strong. But if I may ask, why is it that they are named after other people?" He wondered.

"... I am not sure myself." I said while shrugging my shoulders. "I do know that it has something to do with the bonds I have with my friends. I have different weapons for each of them. I still am not sure what they can do, but I will likely find after I've had enough time to properly use and investigate them."

"I agree with your assessment. Now what else can your grimoire do?" He asked.

That last statement sounded is a bit more personal, but I guess it would not hurt to show him a bit more. With a single thought the pages of the grimoire quickly flipped through before landing on another section.

Putting my hand over the page as I activated the other part of my grimoire, the one connected to my reality marble. I suddenly feel like experimenting a bit, so I decided to select a weapon that I usually never use.

"Legendary Weapon Creation Magic: Felling of the Sky Demon, Balmung." As I said that I pulled the A-rank Noble Phantasm. As I summoned it, I could feel my energy being used up to create it. Thankfully, the actual energy needed in its creation was much lower than I expected. I estimated that it took about half the usual energy than what I originally used back in my old world. Furthermore, the rejection of the world that would normally make my copy a whole grade lower is now much weaker to the point that the difference in power between a copy and the original was minimal.

As the great sword of Siegfried entered my hand, I could feel the surge of information about the weapon's history. From its creation, to its abilities, to the style of swordplay Sigfried used, as well as the feats he achieved with it. The information of Siegfried's accomplishments and his memories felt so realistic that it almost felt like I lived his existence, in a matter of seconds. It was for this reason that I felt like I could wield this blade just as well as he did.

I turned to the magic king and said.

"This is Balmung, a powerful sword that has strong anti-dragon properties, as well as the ability to store and release magical energy." I explained.

Julius was speechless, but the awestruck gaze in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. gazed at the blade in awe and was about to ask if he could hold it until, he flinched while tapping the side of his head. He frowned for a few second before sighing in disappointment.

"I understand. I think the others are probably going to go crazy if we take much longer. However, before we go, I'd like to know a little more about your spirit before we go back." He said.

"Okay." I said before opening my grimoire to the center section. As I did s, the blue-clothed fairy came out and gave me and the magic king a polite bow.

"What is it you desire from me, contractor?" She said.

"I want to better understand what is you can do." I said. The spirit nodded in understanding.

"I am Avalon, the spirit of the ever distant utopia, capable of shielding my contractor and those close to him in the domain of the fairies. In this domain, I can heal either my contractor and anyone else inside it to full strength. Even a spear to the heart would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. However, be warned, should you focus on healing others before yourself, you will be left temporarily outside of my domain, leaving you vulnerable to your enemies. Additionally, the larger your wound, the more of your energy is required to heal you to the point you would require long periods of rest before fully recovering. Also, if your magic becomes sealed, you will be cut off from my protection, so you'd better pay attention to that". she said the last part with a strict tone.

As Avalon finished her explanation and disappeared back into my grimoire, both me and the magic king sucked in a wave of cold air, and our eyes grew comically wide.

This is just far too terrifying of a skill. It is not offensive by any means, but just this alone means that killing me got a whole lot more difficult. More importantly, I now have the means to actually heal others. That is something I always yearned for in my previous life, but the most I could ever do is give first aid. It really puts a smile on my face knowing that I can now can save that many more people.

The magic king was quiet as he heard this, but after a while, he turned to me with a serious face and said.

"Shirou-sama, I will be frank with you. As you are now, your powers are more than enough for you to enter a magic knights squad. However, while it is possible for you to receive early admission, I would like to recommend you a different path. Right now you, despite being as strong as a magic knight, you are not strong enough to protect yourself from every threat, both inside and outside the kingdom, that comes your way. Your heritage, position, magic energy, and especially your skill set solidifies the fact that too many will want to either get rid of or capture you, and they will not care about any victims they might leave behind. To deal with this you need power, and while I am no expert in weapons I know a thing or two about magic. Thus, I would like to know one thing... will you accept me as your master?"

That was a lot to take in, but as my excitement from recent events cooled off, I began to realize just how dangerous my life is right now. If my skills become known, who knows how many will try to come after and try to kill me. As Julius said, they will probably not care in the least about how they will achieve their goals. To deal with this, what I need is power.

If I want to save others I need power. To protect my friends and everyone else in the kingdom, I must have more power than I do right now. This is just this sort of world, power dictates supreme, so unless I have enough I can't even leave home properly, much less help others as I want to. Even as a member of a magic knights squad, the chances of an assassin coming after me and hurting other is scary high. What the magic king is offering me is exactly the solution I have been looking for. A chance to train under him and learn from the best on how to use my grimoire to my maximum potential, but before I agree I must ask him something.

"Will you stop me from going out to help others?"

"Not in the slightest. In fact, I will even accompany you to keep teaching you while also looking for more unique types of magic that exist out there." The magic king said.

"But what about your position. Isn't there like a mountain of paperwork that needs your attention." I asked in doubt.

"Don't worry, I have an excellent subordinate that can do that well enough for me. Besides, it will only be for about three years, maybe less. Unless a war breaks out, there isn't much of an actual need for me to be here." He said, and I am pretty sure whoever his subordinate is, he is probably is cursing his boss right now for dumping all his work onto him.

"Then, I accept. I will be your disciple."

"Good, I will now take you to the others now. I will go talk to his majesty the king and my assistant about this situation and tomorrow we will go train out of the capital. There are too many prying eyes here and too many chances of possible enemies attacking you." He said before explaining what we will be doing. After he was done, he put his hand in my shoulder and again I felt whatever happened before happen again and suddenly we were back in the grimoire Tower.

"Julius, you'd better have a good explanation for your actions." Nozel said as soon the moment I returned. As he marched forward, a wave of mercury covered his back and aimed straight towards Julius. He is quite overprotective of me so he probably did not appreciate in the slightest what just happened.

"Calm down, I just had to go and see exactly what was up with his grimoire and if there was any abnormality. I took him to a safe place to test it out for a bit and I must admit that he can definitely become a magic knight captain or even replace me in the future. However, for that he needs to learn more about his magic potential. As a result, I have decided to take him in as my personal disciple, just as I did for William for a while." Julius said, shocking everyone.

This was surprising for two reasons. The first being that he never spoke of someone possibly replacing him. The second reason was that his praises are a bit too much and now I am quite sure that some people will definitely see me as the reincarnation of the first magic king or something like that. But I guess the most surprising is that I am now his disciple. The only other disciple he ever had was William Vangeance, and he is the most likely for the position of magic king after Julius, as well as the captain of the best magic knight squad.

"Is this true, my majesty?" Fuegoleon asked while Nozel retracted his way too many mercury spears, but still kept them pointed at Julius.

"Yeah, the two of us will go on a trip to train for a while. I will probably be back for the magic knight selection or a bit earlier. The two of us will travel around the kingdom and train in many different locations. The only ones who will know where exactly we are will be the knight captains as this will be a secret training session." I explained. I took a careful look around and noticed how many were surprised. Some did not seem to like the idea that I would be gone for that long.

I also noticed the look of envy and disgust from Langris. That kid may have 'mellowed out' a bit, but I still believe that he is not fit for any position where he should be protecting the citizens of the Clover Kingdom. He is a disaster waiting to happen.

As the others heard my words they wanted to ask us for more information, but before that I led them all to the room where I had prepared the party. I was originally going to make just enough for several people, but when I actually started last night I simply lost myself in it as a way to relax my nerves. In the end I made more than plenty enough for everyone here and looking at them eating put a smile on my face.

"Hey, what is this about you going away just as I got into the capital? Are you running from me, prince?" a woman's voice said behind me and as I turned to look I saw that it was Sol. Her clothing is... yeah, it is not that much. It showed a great amount of her brown skin as well as her inner thighs, belly, and cleavage, but it somehow made sense with her more tomboyish and direct style. She was looking at me with a displeased expression that made me scratch my head nervously, as I was a bit lost for words.

I had agreed last time we met to go and show her around the capital, but right after she came to town I have to leave so I am a bit embarrassed.

Oh, I know.

"Okay, how about this? I will talk to Julius and see if he can agree to let me come back once in a while under a disguise and the first chance I get we can go around town for me to show you everything." I said, and right after that, I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders as Finral appeared and smiled in a very suggestive way.

"Heeh, who would say that the hero prince would stop his precious training time to go and see a girl on a date? And a hot one to boot! I am so proud of you as a fellow ladies man." He said while cleaning his eyes as if he was crying out of happiness.

"What? This is not a date and the only lady that would even look at you is someone who you'd pay for twice as much as anyone else as you are too ugly otherwise, just like most other males. idiot." Sol said with a snarl, making Finral take a step back.

"That should be enough, Sol." Charlotte said as she walked over with a cup of a special blend of tea I made for this occasion.

"Okay, nee-san." Sol said.

"And that's captain to you." Charlotte said.

"Understood, nee-san." Sol answered, much to the tired sigh of Charlotte who could predict that this was her life now. "And Shirou, if we can do this the way you can then fine. I aim to be a great woman just like nee-san, so being understanding is a must. Even if you are the unique exception amongst all those disgusting males."

After that I talked to a few others, had to give a quick run to the kitchen to make even more food since a glutton of a little girl was eating like there was no tomorrow, which reminds me a bit of Saber and Taiga when it came to food, and overall made for some good memories.

Later on, I talked to Julius and he agreed that I can return to the royal capital under disguise once every two months or so, and with everything set it was time to go on my journey of training.


	6. Chapter 6

2 and a half years later

In Hage, a village on the outskirts of the Clover Kingdom, a fifteen-year-old boy was happily running towards the church. The boy was just a few days away from the ceremony where he would finally obtain his grimoire, which excited him greatly as he wanted nothing more than to become the next magic emperor. However, the reason for his happiness this time was a bit different than his dream.

'I can't believe I never thought of this before! With this gift I am sure she will say yes this time!'

He practically was skipping out of happiness until he finally reached the church, but before he could shout out what he wanted, he came face to face with someone he did not like in the slightest. He was a young man who seemed a bit older than him, with deep blue hair, a pair of glasses, a small pen on his belt, a scar under his left eye that was not huge but still impressive. He wore a white overcoat as he sat happily talking with the sister inside the chapel. The sister was like the young Madonna of the village. At 21 years old, it was around the normal time for girls her age to be thinking of marriage. Normally it would make no difference for a sister of the church since they could not marry, but in the last decade or so, a new law came down from the church headquarters allowing them to marry once if the person was also a believer.

This is normally something that made Asta very happy, but the way sister Lily was smiling happily beside the young man did not make him happy in the slightest.

"HEY! Emyia, stop pestering sister Lily this instant! I have something very important to ask her." The boy yelled as soon as he entered the church, startling the two older people inside. The boy smirked a bit when he saw that, only for him to get a kick to the back of his head by the old priest.

"Stop pestering them, Asta. He was just explaining to her some herbs that can help heal others, as well as unique treatments and ways to use them to help those in need." The old man said.

As Asta heard that he still huffed discontent. He did not like this Emyia character one bit. He started appearing in villages around the region about a month ago, claiming to be a healer and went around helping everyone not only heal their wounds, but also teaching alternative methods of healing they did not know about. He even went and explained better methods of plantation and also established entire classes to teach others how to better use the ingredients they had. This made him incredibly popular all over the region to the point that even the few nobles that lived around the region greatly respected him and used to invite him to their parties as an honored guest only for him to instead attend commoner gatherings to help them cook their food instead.

He also showed a large amount of magical energy and combined with his good looks, led many young girls wanting to be with him, and that worried Asta immensely since he wanted sister Lily to look at only himself. He loved her for years now and he would not have some upstart out of anywhere take her away from him.

"It is fine, father Orsi. I know he didn't mean anything bad and just wants to talk to Lily right now. I was already overextending my visit anyway as I still have to go to Muram village nearby to help teach them which herbs around there are good for consumption and what their effects are." Emyia said before standing up and leaving the church, but not before giving Asta a once-over to see if he was okay. It always impressed him how someone so small could have so much muscle mass. He was 1.55 meters high with short white hair and was packing a lot of muscle in his tiny frame. The healer had once tried to teach him some training methods to improve his physical abilities, but he had been rejected for a while now as Asta was not interested since he did not want to be in any form of debt with 'competition' as he would say.

After the healer left sister Lily reproached Asta for acting this way to a guest, but after a while she calmed down and decided to listen to what he had to say outside since she had been sitting inside the church for more than two hours now just talking to Emyia about healing techniques.

"Sister Lily! I'll become the Magic Emperor someday and make you happy! So please marry me!" He said that with his secret weapon in hand. A simple pink flower that he had collected in the nearby forest while training.

"I'm sorry, Asta, but I'm everybody's sister. I don't intend on getting married." She said with a small smile.

When he heard this it was like he got an arrow through his heart, but just as he was about to fall he came back.

"Not yet!" He yelled right at her face.

"Um... I'm sorry." She said sweatdropping a bit.

He was again close to falling down when he heard this, but his will did not let him as instead he bowed to her all over again and yelled, again.

"I'm not giving up yet!"

"Er, um... But..."

"Not enough." He said while going on seiza and repeatedly hitting his head against the floor.

"I.. I am sorry." She said while taking out her blue grimoire. " _Water Creation Magic: Holy Fist of Love_!"

And with that Asta passed out with a water fist hitting him squarely in the head.

* * *

Later that day Asta was talking with the kids, and again they were discussing something they actually enjoyed talking about.

The prince of the kingdom, Shirou Kira Clover I.

It was no mystery that he was a very well known character even way out here in Hage. There were so many stories about him that even in this village that barely got any information from the capital they still heard about him, even though a few stories were a tiny bit exaggerated.

"...and then when he touched his grimoire celestial hymns rang and a pair of angels descended to give him their blessing. It is even said that he was so handsome that most girls passed out when he looked at them." The young orphan girl named Recca told the smaller girl named Aruru.

"Yeah, and I heard he is so strong that when he was six, he defeated a giant bull with just one punch." A young boy named Nash said. He always did like talking about the prince since he was almost like a legend in these parts. "I also heard he spends all his money helping others and donating to the church to help feed and heal those in need."

"I can attest to that one." Sister Lily said while enjoying her meal. "I asked my friends from other churches and they said he donated almost as much money as several noble families in donations to help the needy."

"I heard he is super strong. He is even the magic emperor's personal disciple! I wonder if someday I too will have a disciple." Asta said, imagining himself dressed like magic emperor and having a disciple that looked up to him, strangely enough, that disciple looked just like Yuno and kept telling him how honored he is to be in his presence and telling him how handsome and tall he was and how his magic was impressive.

"Impossible, the next magic emperor will be me." A tall teen answered Asta. He had raven black hair and an air of confidence to himself as he said that, it was almost like he believed it was just the obvious result that he would be the next number 1 of the whole kingdom.

"What did you say, Yuno you bastard?" Asta said, already standing up and about to go attack the other teen that looked very much composed but had a mental image of when Asta tried to jump on him he would launch a wave of air at him and blow him away.

This and other interactions were the mark of just another day in this church. Something quite different to what is happening far away in the giant demon skull on the outskirts of the village.

There the young man named Emyia was analyzing the skull for a while now, trying to understand what sort of creature it was, and to see if it is possible to use the bones as a material for one of the weapons he imagined (he had been collecting materials for a while now), but most importantly, he wanted to know if it represented any real danger to the villages in the surrounding area.

It was a slow process since it was not possible for him to identify the whole thing at once and understanding it was easier said than done. However, even though it was a slow process he still did it in his 'rest time' as most of his time was spent helping others from the villages nearby. It was this way that time passed for both groups, until the day of the grimoire ceremony finally came.

* * *

The ceremony was quite standard, the grimoires flew around the room before landing in the waiting hands of different people. The only problem came from the fact that one boy did not get a grimoire at all. He was just standing there with his arms wide open as not a single grimoire flew his way. He could only keep looking as not a single one chose him and everyone laughed at him.

At a corner of the room, the healer looked at this and shook his head. He knew from the start that it was unlikely that Asta would get a grimoire since he, strangely enough, did not have any magic circuits. It was a bit absurd as everyone born in this dimension had them, but Asta was an exception to this rule.

A grimoire is like a mystic code, but instead of being able to transfer it to others, it would truly unite with a compatible person. Once this happened, it would unite with the magic circuits and vitalize them. It would create magic formulas for the user to quickly activate magic, even if he did not have any knowledge about it. The more the person developed themselves both mentally and spiritually, the more new spells it would have.

Just as Asta looked dejected from this and did not know what to do a blinding light appeared right behind him. As he turned to see what it was, a bright grimoire appeared with the image of a four leaf clover on it. Something that by all means is beyond rare to see, a show of great talent, and it was positioned right into Yuno's hands.

When everyone saw this they all gaped in wonder, but quickly enough some nobles could not resist to snicker and said.

"Heh, to think some nobody from this place could have four-leafed grimoire. Is he trying to copy the commoner prince?"

His words did not escape the ears of those around him, and while many felt displeased by hearing someone talk about the prince in such a way, there were others that were looking at the grimoire with great envy. Since the first magic emperor, there were rarely any other four leafed grimoires. The most recent one had been his majesty the prince and now another one appeared. This revelation made many present believe that maybe their kingdom was on the path towards never before seen glory as many people started talking about Yuno, while Asta continued to wait for the grimoire that would not come.

On the corners of the room two other people were paying attention to this whole situation, one being a man with an ugly scar covering half his face and the other a male wearing white with blue hair and that currently was scratching his chin deep in thought. Another person appeared with a four leafed grimoire, that was something he wanted to see and better understand.

* * *

Back at the church, after the whole spectacle that happened earlier, everyone came back together as they felt a heavenly smell reaching them. It was so much so that the kids ran ahead and Asta ran with them.

"Oh my, these kids are in just too much of a hurry to go and eat, right Yu... wait where did he go?" Lily wondered as she failed to see Yuno taking off to the sky as he decided to get there first to chose the best pieces of whatever was cooking right now.

Asta, seeing this and refusing to lose to Yuno again, used all his strength to run ahead of Yuno, who also did not want to lose making him advance just as fast. In the end both started dashing with all their strength and a few second later both reached the mess hall of the church only to see the traveling healer Emyia standing there and finishing putting everything in the table.

"I was starting to get worried that you all would not be able to get here before the food got cold. Come on go wash your hands and sit down." Emyia said with a peaceful smile, but when Asta tried to snatch a fried tatoe, Emyia gave him a glare that made a shiver run up and down his spine.

In the end, the two went to wash their hands just as everyone else got in the mess hall.

"Wow, sir Emyia, how did you make all that? And so fast, I thought you were at the ceremony with us earlier today?" father Osri asked.

"I was there, but I knew that everyone would want to celebrate. Also, it felt liked that had left in not that great of a mood yesterday, so I thought that I might help you guys out today as an apology if I offended anyone. I had prepared most of the ingredients earlier so all I had to do is come back and finish cooking them." Emyia said with a simple smile.

"But how could you come back so fast? We didn't see you walking with us and there was no one flying back either." Lily asked as she moved in to help him put everything together on the table.

"That is easy... it is a trade secret." He said, with a sly smile as he refused to answer the question of how he did what he did for the rest of the night.

After Asta, Yuno, and the kids came back from washing their hands, and Asta having to go wash his hands again as he decided to do some push-ups to try and train a bit more, they all sat together to eat.

"Just you wait Yuno, I will get my grimoire one of these days and will show you that I am going to become the next magic emperor!" Asta yelled, making everyone wonder if they would lose their hearing or not as they finished their meals and had goofy smiles on their faces. "To prove that I will do a thousand sit-ups!"

As he was about to begin doing the sit-ups a hand was put in his shoulder.

"Wait, Asta. Before you start exercising like this would you mind letting me analyze your body and direct your training for a bit?" Emyia asked, he wanted to try and see if, in case he truly had no hope in magic, if he could try teaching him one of the more unique martial arts he knew. Although, they might not be magical in nature, they were definitely powerful.

Asta looks at him up and down, and only saw just see a healer, someone who had probably once never trained his body, so he said.

"Sorry, but have you ever even trained your body?"

Emyia smiled before pulling the robe covering his upper body, revealing a masterpiece of muscles that looked so tight and strong that Asta did not know if a knife could even pierce it and abs so well defined that it looked like it was possible to make grated cheese with. His every muscle was extreme well defined but there was no feel of him being too bulky at all, it was like every muscle was trained in perfect balance and it grew to perfection or as close to it as possible.

"I trained my body since I was very young and had a diet that helped my body grow stronger than most. My magic demands a lot of physical prowess in order for me to use it, but I know that with the right technique a strong enough body could defeat even someone among the lower end magic knights with no problem even without augmentation of magic. You just need proper instruction, and I want to help you a bit as your determination for a dream that most think is stupid and impossible... let's just say it resonated a bit with me." Emyia said with a chuckle in the end, but everyone barely listened as they were still admiring his perfect body.

This was part of the reason as to why Emyia used a large robe, he knew that in the Clover kingdom people rarely ever see trained their bodies and when they did it was mostly self-taught so his body was quite shocking for most. Probably in the whole kingdom the only person with more muscles than him right now was the captain of the Black Bull's squad, Yami Sukehiro.

When Asta finally snapped out of it, he instantly agreed to Emiya's proposition. Already imagining getting an even more perfect body and making sister Lily fall in love with him using it as alongside his next secret weapon, TWO flowers. As he heard the instructions of training Emyia gave him he thought them weird until he explained them in more details, which made Asta excited to put the training ideas to the test.

As he was about to run off he could not resist but comment.

"I always thought you had crazy strong magic energy, but if you train your body so much were you also born without being able to use magic?"

"No, I was born with quite a bit of magic, more than most actually. However, as my magic was too strong, versatile and demanded immense physical strength to be properly used, I ended up needing to train quite a bit on both my magic and physical prowess." Emyia said, making Yuno snap a bit to attention when he heard about him training to better control his magic.

"Were you really born with that much magic power? Why is it that I barely feel anything from you?" Yuno asked with interest.

"Because I know how to not flash my powers around, but this is the energy I actually have." Emyia said as suddenly the air itself began to feel heavy for everyone. It was much more magic energy than any of them was used to as there weren't that many with this much magical energy in the area. Three seconds after the energy was released, it vanishing leaving no trace of its presence.

As Yuno saw this he felt a pressure, he was used to being the best around and he had just gotten a legendary grimoire, making him feel understandably proud of himself right now. Thus, seeing someone with such impressive control over their magic, the control he still did not have, was a bit beyond his comfort zone.

But, even as he saw Asta ask for instructions he refused to do the same. He was far too proud and he would simply put in more and more effort until he became the strongest.

He instead stood up and simply said 'I am going to go train' and left the area.

And so Asta was receiving his first actual lesson in how to grow stronger while Yuno went out to do his own training. All the while Emyia was enjoying the fact he was helping others and liking the fact he could help someone who reminded him of himself so much. A fool with an impossible dream and the will to reach it, this was something he knew all too well, as well as how tortuous the path to it would be.

* * *

Later that evening both teens were working hard in their training, Asta was trying his hand at the physical training Emyia had recommended to him. At first, he thought it was easy he quickly started to feel pain in muscles he didn't even know he had. Meanwhile Yuno was near the giant demon's skull in an ancient structure that had transformed into nothing more than rocks in barely shaped positions. He decided to come train here as the mana in the air was a bit thicker than anywhere else, and it was peaceful and quiet here.

The problem came from the fact that one of the nobles that were present during the ceremony showed up with a furious face. He kept yelling at Yuno for daring to try and appear better than him and how only nobles or royalty should have any right to be great at magic.

However, his words were all nonsense for Yuno. He never cared about any of this as he only wanted to win his competition with Asta to see who will become magic emperor first.

"I will teach you the difference between a noble and a commoner!" The noble yelled before opening his grimoire and activating his magic. "Fire Magic: Resplendent wave."

Yuno saw the wave of fire and just opened his grimoire and activated his own magic.

" _Wind Magic: Upper Hurricane_." And with that, he made a hurricane surround himself, protecting him from and dissipating the flames. It was clear that this did not take up much of his magic while the noble, on the other hand felt his own energy drop considerably.

The noble gnashed his teeth and was about to tell his friend to act too when suddenly chains covered his and his friend's bodies.

CLAP CLAP

"Good, good indeed. To think someone with a four-leafed grimoire could control his magic so well the moment he obtained it. It makes me wonder how long it would take for you to be strong enough to beat me." A man said while walking up the stairs of the structure.

Yuno was instantly on guard, he could feel that this new person was much more dangerous than the nobles. Before he had a chance to unleash another spell, chains appeared from the ground and locked him in place.

"Tch, tch, tch. That will not do, you are still but a little chick that does not know how to properly learn magic. You should have run away the moment you saw me and realized the difference in our powers. Even though I must admit that even if you tried to do that you could never really escape me. These chains can seal away a person's magic energy with no problems, and they are quite sturdy so it is next to impossible that there is anyone out there who can break them with physical force alone. Until recently, I was a pretty well-known magic knight called Revchi of Chain Magic. Unfortunately, I was kicked out so now I am just a wretched little thief." The man said, his face covered in a terrible scar on the entire left side of his face that looked like he had been severely burned.

Yuno felt that things were not going well, especially when he saw the person use one of his chains to lock up his grimoire and pull it away.

"I will be taking this now" Revchi said.

"I don't know who you are, but stealing my grimoire is useless. Only the person chosen by the grimoire can use them so getting another person's grimoire is meaningless." Yuno said, still composed as he tried to imagine ways out of this situation.

"I know that, but I am not stealing it to use it. I am interested in selling it. Four-leafed grimoires like yours sell for a hefty penny, especially since the shitty prince got one. So don't worry, I will let you live as I want my merchandise intact and when someone dies the grimoire disappears too." Revchi said, taking no small pleasure in seeing the young talent locked down by his hand and unable to do anything.

Just as Revchi was about to leave a loud yell echoed around them. Everyone turned to the source of the cry as Asta came running up the stairs to show off to Yuno how his new training helped him to grow that much stronger and how he would catch up to him in no time.

However, when Asta reached the top of the stairs and saw the situation at hand he did not wait at all. His instincts and thoughts dictated that he would go and save his friend so he instantly dashed at the lanky man. Revchi saw this and smirked as he launched a few chains at Asta, only for the young boy to slide in the ground and pass by all the attacks, appearing in the back of Revchi with his fists clenched and aimed a powerful punch right at him.

The problem was that before the fist could even touch Revchi it ended up being stopped by chains that came from behind Asta. Those same chains then proceeded to stab him all over his body. He coughed up blood after one of them stabbed into his right lung, missing his heart by just a few centimeters.

As Asta's mind was bombarded with pain, Revchi laughed as Yuno struggled even more fiercely against the chains holding him, the blood flowing out of Asta was making him feel far more desperate than losing his grimoire.

"Hahahaha, What is this? A brat with no magic actually tried to attack me? How funny, how utterly funny! It is the most priceless joke I have ever heard. To think there would truly be someone this stupid in this world." Revchi said, and when Asta looked at him in confusion Revchi realized. "Wait, you did not know you had no magical powers? When my chains are in contact with someone I can feel exactly how much magic the person has. Your friend there has immense reserves with a lot of untapped potential, a natural born genius, but you? You don't have any. As in no potential whatsoever. You were born hated by the mana, you will forever be incapable to use magic. You natural born loser."

As Asta heard that he felt like all his hopes were being crushed, like it was the final nail in the coffin on the belief thatcould never leave his mind despite wanting to never think about it. Just as he was about to pass out, someone yelled.

"Hey! Who are you calling a loser? Asta, it is true that you will never be the magic emperor, no matter what. That is because I will be the one that will become the magic emperor. But you are no loser. Because, you are my rival, ASTA!" Yuno yelled that last part, and as the words entered Asta's ears he snapped open his eyes.

So what if he had no magic? So what if he was a natural born 'loser'? He would still be the one to become the magic emperor, he would still become the strongest! And for that-

"Not... Not yet!" He said, his mouth leaking blood as he grabbed the chains around him, using all the strength he had in his body, he began to put pressure on the chains binding him. At first nothing happened, but then the sound of steel breaking, bones snapping, and blood spilling mixed together as Asta broke free from the chains locking him in place.

It was then that a weird black energy flashed around the area, it was like Asta's body was covered in black flame-like tattoos for a second and from out of nowhere a black tattered book appeared. One with not three, not four, but with a FIVE-leafed clover on it. The mysterious grimoire opened in front of him and from it, a jet black sword covered in rust appeared. It did not look all that sharp of a blade, but the great bastard-sword still gave a threatening appearance as Asta held it in his hand. Without thinking and being barely conscious he grabbed the sword with all his strength and dashed towards the enemy in front of him.

Revchi saw this and launched several chains at his opponent, but as Asta swung his blade, all the chains that hit the edge were disintegrated.

"M-My magic was negated?!" Revchi asked out loud in a mix of doubt and terror as he saw that blade getting closer and closer to himself. In a desperate move he used his chains to pull himself back, but it was only by a few centimeters that Asta missed him. As Asta was about to attack again a new chain appeared from the ground, impaling him in his stomach and making him fall to the ground.

Revchi smiled, that was a close one as he might have just lost his life against the boy and his sword. Now not only would he escape, he had also gotten a new item to sell to those who might be interested. He knew for a fact that people from the Diamond or Spades Kingdoms would probably like this sort of weapon very much to help in their next invasion against the Clover and Hearts kingdoms.

But, he still despised the fact that someone without any magic had actually frightened him there for a second. Hence opening his grimoire, he cast a new spell causing a heavy chain with the tip looking like an anchor to manifest over him.

"I know you are going to die anyways, but you impressed me so I will give you a death you properly deserve. Now... DIE!" Revchi yelled as the anchor descended, but just as it was about to reach Asta something got in the way.

It was like a ball of light appeared around Asta, covering his entire body and when the anchor was about to reach him, something prevented it from reaching him. No, rather than simply being stopped, it was like whatever covered his body made it impossible for his spell to reach him, like he was in an ever distant place that no damage or evil could ever reach. The ultimate defense.

Not only that but it was clear to see that Asta's wounds were getting smaller and smaller, and he was alos getting stronger and stronger.

"Sorry, but I can't quite have you continue hurting others this way, Revchi." A person said from close by, as both Yuno and Rivchi turned to look they saw the healer of the village, Emyia, appear. He was quite a bit nervous inside as he almost let someone he knows die due to his lack of knowledge of the situation. Thankfully he was nearby when he sensed Yuno's magic energy vanish a while ago. Initially, he had gone to see what was going on but was not in so much of a hurry since it was always possible that Yuno was simply exhausted from training on controlling his energy better,. However, this was still no excuse in his opinion to let both teens almost die because of his carelessness.

His grimoire was in front of him, it was sparkling white but Rivchi realized a few things while looking at the grimoire. First, there was some sort of magic on the grimoire to disguise it, something he knew was possible as he saw many in his new line of work doing it. He also he noticed some signs of a disguise as he also had to deal with many that disguised themselves while working for the underworld.

"Who are you? Were you sent to capture me?" Rivchi asked.

"No, I was just passing by this land when I saw the demon skull and decided to study it for a bit, but I must admit that capturing you is now a much more pressing matter." Emyia said.

"And you think that a healer could ever capture me? Me, a user of chain magic? Don't overestimate yourself, trash!" Revchi yelled as he launched dozens of chains towards the enemy.

Emyia just shook his head as he said, " _Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: Married Blades **Kanshou and Bakuya**_." as he finished saying that two dagger-like swords appeared in his hands. One being spotless white and the other being pitch black. As both blades entered Emyia's hands he proceeded to cut down all the chains aimed at him with unparalleled speed that came from a combination of both physical strength that was beyond the norm and reinforcement magic. It was to such a point that most could barely even see him move due to the speed reached with the blades.

As the chains were all cut down Revchi was shocked, but before he could go and create more chains Emyia was already upon him, his swords cutting him from shoulder to hip and defeating him instantly.

As he saw what he did Emyia could only shake his head.

"I guess I went a bit too far, let's just hope I can still save his life."

As he said that he turned to Yuno, thanks to Revchi being defeated and unconscious, the chains had disappeared so now Yuno was free again. Only instead of being thankful, he was on guard against Emyia. It was a fact that Emyia had only ever be seen using healing magic, albeit a rather strange one. However, now he clearly used a different type of magic. One revolving around speed and power using weapons. Not only that but he had Asta as a 'hostage' so Yuno was ready to fight to the death if needed to protect his best friend/rival.

Emyia looked at it and scratched the back of his head before taking out a small orb from a pocket in his pants. It was a magic item given to him from his master a while ago, after he left to go back to the capital to take care of some important matters.

Activating it was simple enough, it only sent a signal from one point to another, nothing more than that. After about 6 or 7 seconds a white energy transmission appeared and from it a guy with blue hair that looked like a mushroom appeared.

"My majesty, is there a problem that you need help with? I will send you an entire squad if need be, simply give the world."

"Calm down, Marx. I just wanted to ask you to send someone to come over here to take in a criminal I captured. He was trying to steal someone else's grimoire and wounded a civilian. I also think he might have been one of those magic knights that were kicked out so maybe he has a reward under his name too." Emiya said.

"Sigh, how can you get into this sort of mess every few weeks? If it is going to be like this every single time, maybe we really should send scouts to make sure of your safety instead of trusting it to just the Black Bulls." Marx said tiredly. This was something that happened almost every few weeks. Sometimes even more than several times a week. Emyia would go to take a walk, only to end up witnessing a corrupt noble, or maybe a petty thief, sometimes he even ended up facing criminals that could give trouble to most magic knights too. All that because he HAD to help others.

If it was not because of his trick with one of his magic weapons and the possibility to call for help at any time the Black Bulls squad, the one with the highest mobility amongst all squads, then Marx was of the opinion of locking him inside the palace and not letting him leave the sight of someone like his overprotective cousins, Fuegoleon and Nozel.

"Calm down, it is not my fault that I end up in this sort of scenario more often than not." Emyia said.

"And for how long do you intend on keeping up that lousy disguise? For crying out loud, you are only fifteen and when talking to me or other knights you should try to keep your original appearance instead. I will ask someone from the Black Bulls to go and fetch the criminal. The reward money will be sent to your account, which I am sure will be given away as donations anyway." Marx said, making Emyia act embarrassed. It was a well-known fact, that he forgot he was even in disguise in the first place and his conjecture of where his money would go was not wrong in the slightest. He could live with less and for him as long as he was fed, the rest could be given to those who needed the money more than him. He gave a quick glance to Yuno before removing the pen he had in his belt the whole time.

" _Weapon Creation Magic: Mightiest Pen **Rill**._" As he said that he clicked the pen twice before a cloud of paint covered his entire body. When the paint vanished Emyia had changed drastically. His body was still as bulky as before, only instead of the white robes he was previously wearing, he was now wearing red and black leather, his hair was a mismatch of red and white, his eyes were now golden and was no longer wearing glasses. He also no longer had a scar, and looked quite much younger than he did before. Now he appeared to be around the same age as Yuno and Asta.

Not long after he did that a grey portal appeared behind him and from it, emerged a young man of about 18 years. He had dirty blond, almost chestnut, hair, 'droopy' eyes, was of average height and build. He had a black cloak over his shoulders and when Yuno saw this he realized instantly that this person was a magic knight, one from the Black Bulls squad.

"Hey, Finral. Sorry for troubling you again." Emyia said.

"What? I was waiting to see you. Charmy has been growing crazy and she threatened to bite my head off if I couldn't get some of the food you usually make for her. If anything this is a life saving grace for me." Finral said before giving a small laugh as he said, "But damn, you get in trouble every time someone takes their eyes off you. I guess you will be entering my squad after all."

Emiya just shrugged his shoulders and when he was about to talk Yuno opened his mouth first.

"Who are you, Emyia? Give Asta back! He is my precious rival!"

"Wow, he really doesn't know who you are?" Finral asked while turning his eyes to "Emyia" who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Never really told him and I was disguised whenever I met him and the others around here." he said.

"Oh, that makes sense. It must be hard on you, having to hide your identity all the time and all that with spartan teachers like those you had and with old man Julius leaving you all the time to go search for new magics while giving you impossible tasks, sheesh. I guess it makes sense as to why so many say that amongst the new generation, you are the most likely to become magic emperor Shirou." Finral said, shocking Yuno. It was enough to shake him to his core as the words he heard could only relate to one person.

"Yeah, anyways. Yuno, I have finished healing Asta now. It would be best if you leave him to me until tomorrow since he sustained so much damage to his body and all that, but if you want you can take him after I finish applying first aid." Emyia said... No... that is not his name.

"And about who I am, my name is Shirou Kira Clover I, the royal prince and future king of the Clover Kingdom, but you can just call me Shirou. I too want to become a magic knight and a magic emperor so I guess this makes us rivals, Yuno." As he said that his grimoire changed to its original appearance and Yuno saw a four leafed clover that was even bigger and more resplendent than his own.

Yuno never really put anyone else but Asta in his eyes as a rival for the position of magic emperor. Mostly because he never met anyone else that could match his talent or Asta's determination, but also because he felt deep in his bones that he was destined for greatness. It was a type of confidence that allowed him to focus on his objective above all else, but looking at Shirou and his grimoire he felt something new. He was a threat to his dreams, but instead of being nervous he felt exhilarated. He always wondered what sort of point he would have to pass to deserve the name of magic emperor, and he now saw a glimpse of what he had to suppress.

How could he not to be excited by this prospect?

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **Then, I guess this is canon now. I hope you guys enjoyed it and if there is any doubt just ask. Also, next chapter will be a detour from canon where Shirou will go somewhere else to avoid being taken back to the capital. It will be my try in expanding the world and putting forth two other kingdoms that until now there was no explanation about, the Heart kingdom and the Spades kingdom, with the first being allied with Clover and the other an enemy.**

 **I hope you guys will like and from next chapter andd the ones following some F/GO characters will begin showing up, so I hope you guys look forward to it.**

 **Here are some stats and abilities of the weapons Shirou has from his Weapon Creation Magic:**

 _Weapon Creation Magic: **Mercurian Claw Nozel:**_

B++ Rank

It is a pair of claws in the wrists, they can expand, shrink, and change weight depending on the amount of energy used, the speed of expansion and retraction when mastered is close to the speed of sound or even higher. It is also very economical in magic energy and demanding more control than energy amount while also being hard to detect when not in use but equiped.

It also has a function where it is possible to separate one or more of the claws to create a mercurian dome around a person as means of protection to others. The reason for it being B++ Rank is the sheer versatility and the fact that if given enough power could potentially grown to equal the size of Ig-Alima and have equivalent destructive power.

 _Weapon Creation Magic: **Great Rose Whip Mimosa**_

C+ Rank

It is a whip made of a vine covered in spikes, it can grow and regenerate when given energy and can also be controlled without movement of the user and just his thoughts, but if the user moves the whip in accordance its speed and power increase drastically.

An ideal weapon for disturbing large amounts of enemies and for sneak attacks by burring the whip in the ground it is very practical for the user. Also, it has a protective function where the user can use it as a protective cocoon that guards those inside against all harm being a protective area that does not allow anyone or any energy to enter, with the price of Shirou not being able to use the whip when he does this.

 **If it isn't clear by now most, if not all, of the weapons Shirou will make have a protective, supportive, or healing property that comes from sacrificing the weapon for a period of time. It represents his suicidal behavior and how he always wants to protect others and save everyone, and he now has plenty of ways to do it.**

 **If any of you readers have an idea for weapons that can be used I am all ears, I need a few for Magna, Luck, Vanessa, Yami, and other such characters, with a reminder that captains or people of this class must have weapons of B+ or higher level and it is possible for Shirou to lent a weapon to the person involved, for instance he could lend _Mercurian Claws Nozel_ to Nozel.**

 **Follow, Favorite, and Review.**

 **Beta-ed by Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Fixed the orthographic typo of putting Emiya instead of Emyia, it was a mistake that I regret doing and I apologize. Also, if anyone wants to see some servant from F/GO in this story please tell me which one and the magic he would have, like Karna using fire magic for instance or Semiramis using poison magic.**


	7. Chapter 7

Sigh, this is a bit troublesome. Now I have to choose between changing locations to another area in the region or just go back to the capital already. I was planning to spend the time I have until the exam staying in these villages in the interior of the kingdom to help them, but knowing my friends and more specifically Nozel and Fuegoleon there is a zero percent chance that they will not extract information from Finral and come running to see if I am alright and take me back to the palace.

I know that becoming a magic knight is necessary if I want to help the biggest amount of people down the line, but to be honest, if I already waited this long I want to make this far and square. I don't want others saying I got privileged treatment or anything of the sort. Besides, this time gives me a chance to try and spread knowledge to those from these regions and maybe help them a bit more with how to treat diseases and other things. It is not much, but if the knowledge I obtained can be taught to others and it helps maybe it can save more lives than me acting out directly would.

With this set, I know what I have to do, if options A and B are bad I will create a C.

Run away to another place and disguise me there before spreading my knowledge. I heard that the regions close to the borders of Hearts kingdom are going for some hard times due to the bad weather and, while it is a different nation, people are people and if I can save someone then it is worth it. I was waiting until I finished teaching those from this region, but it will be cut short.

Looking at Finral I decided to implement my decision.

"Finral, please try and hold on the info of where I am until at least tomorrow." I said.

"Sorry, I may want to help you but the chance of one of the captains approaching me and threatening my life is too big for me to not tell. If not Sol and Illya using Blue Rose to try and strangle me for information it could be the Silver Eagle or Crimson Lion may try to kidnap me for information, or-"

"I will give you a coupon discount for the 'lovely ladies palace' with all drinks included." I said, since I started disguising myself when I was a bit over 14 I sometimes went to the capital to see the others but sometimes when I was walking back I ended up helping people, one of them was a woman that gave me this coupon to her workplace. I am not really interested, but considering how FInral's eyes are shining almost as much as master's when he sees a new magic I think it worked out.

"Deal, I will go and use this right now and with some luck, they will not get to me until then." Finral said before taking the downed Rivchi and leaving. As I saw him leave I turned to Yuno and could see that he still was on guard.

SIGH

He may try to hide it most of the time but he cares an awful lot about Asta, he sees him as a brother no doubt.

"Don't worry, the first aid treatment is done, he isn't on the risk of death anymore. I wanted to give him a more complete one but I seem to have to leave now anyway. Well, he probably will be back in full health in just a few days and if there are any scars left I can just treat him again when we meet next time, you both are going to try and beat me in becoming the magic emperor, right?" I said in a bit of provocation. It is out of character, but I understand that both of them are very competitive so they will probably go that extra mile if I tell them this. I don't really care much for the title or the position, but if these words can make them work harder and perhaps become great magic knights all the better.

As I removed the effects of Avalon from Asta I saw that the gaping wounds were all already closed so I went to Yuno and put Asta in his arms. I turned to leave, the path to where I had to go already in my mind as I heard Yuno calling.

"...How?"

"Huh?"

"How can I too become stronger? Earlier, I was incapable of doing anything. Asta almost died and I could only watch, but you defeated that magic knight in a matter of seconds. We are both the same age, is the difference between royalty and a commoner that great? Is there any way to grow stronger?" Yuno asked.

"Well, there is undeniably a difference. Royalty has greater magic energy from birth, that is a fact, but yours is not below the amount of most other royals I have seen before. But, if you are wondering why I grew so strong it is because I trained desperately since I was 5, most of my time was spent on tirelessly training and studying many things. I trained and practiced it all, but if you want a tip on how to grow stronger than a good one is trying to improve in your control and perhaps try and give more wings to your imagination. Don't be afraid to test out our magic beyond just what is on your grimoire, if you have an attack that can launch a big slash-like wind blast why not divide it into many smaller slashes? Or your hurricane magic, why not try and control the hurricane to launch two with contrary directions that could damage better others? Things like that demand more control, but they also are not bad and can make you much stronger. Also, never lose sight of what truly is making you move forward, whatever it may be you must never lose yourself into mindless growing stronger or you might end up like that chain guy." I said what I had in my mind, considering how Yuno was thinking it through then I consider this a success.

I am not sure if the things I proposed are truly viable, but experimentation and practice are what could really make his magic shine.

After that, I told him to keep quiet if anyone asked where I went before leaving, I know they may get worried but I still want to go there and help those people there, also the exam for magic knights is in half a year from now and I have the time to go there.

* * *

The travel there was quite uneventful, it took me about two months and I had to hide from some patrols and had to dig my way through in some parts, thankfully my _Earth Marionetter **Sol** _is quite useful for this sort of situations since the threads it has can move the earth around me depending on the amount of energy I put into.

It is an interesting item, it is a glove that covers my left hand and has a bunch of strings attached that connect me to the earth and allow me to manipulate it as if it was a marionette, it isn't as good as Sol's magic but for this sort of situation, it works perfectly.

This is something I realized after studying more my grimoire, the first half has weapons that I can only obtain after establishing a connection to others, the stronger the connection the stronger the weapon becomes. I found this detail because after going out with Sol for a while I noticed how the power of _Earth Marionetter **Sol** _started growing stronger. The weapons I get from this are usually like degraded versions of the magic from those I am connected to, it is really fitting for a faker to have this as an ability.

Another good weapon I have is _Throwing Knives **Finral**_ , it is a set of 10 knives that allow me to teleport from one knife to another instantly and without spending much energy. If the distance becomes greater it naturally has a bigger mana consumption and if I use this to teleport an attack away from the knife used to teleport the attacks and the one that received it on the other side are destroyed and it is necessary an entire day for the knives to be restored.

Anyway, right now I managed to enter Hearts Kingdom and I must admit that this other kingdom is quite different from Clover.

The houses are mostly more rustic and the architecture, and while simpler, is also quite beautiful in its own way and quite efficient in isolating the temperature to keep houses warm when it is cold and cool when it is hot. Another thing I think is curious is that people here seems to care much more about physical power, the kids are outside playing and practicing with wood swords and other such things, acting like knights instead of mages like back in Clover.

I did hear once how this kingdom is more physically oriented and their magic is mostly like my own in that it demanded more physical combat instead of just distant fighting. They learn how to control their mana to improve and cover their bodies to make them that much greater and it is not uncommon for there to be people that can create weapons using magic, pretty much like that general from the Diamond Kingdom named Fanzel.

I was looking around when I started hearing some weird rumors.

"Did you hear? Apparently, the Longding Village has also appeared with signs of the plague." An old woman said to another.

"Oh, that is terrible. This sort of situation is happening, again and again, these last few months. I just hope this time more survivors are left, the place probably has already been quarantined by the magic knights." The other one said.

I guess this is a change of plans, a plague is happening right now over here and people are dying. I have to go there, with luck I can identify what the disease is exactly using Structural Analysis and also use Avalon to heal those right in front of me while spreading the knowledge on how to treat it to others. With some luck I can get there in time to save even one more life.

* * *

Getting to know where the village is located was not hard, get close was not difficult either, but for some reason, I am right now against a rock as a knight-like person covered in armor on their entire body is looking down on me with a sword made out of pure thunder aimed at my neck. It was quite out of the blue, I silently approached the point where the village was, a bolt of red lightning happened, and now I am here. I could have avoided, but I fear that this might raise too many flags as moving in such a way would indicate combat training and my identity right now is a secret.

"And who the fuck you think you are, idiot? This area is under quarantine, so either get lost now or I will make you get lost." A feminine voice said from inside the armor. The armor is quite impressive, it is all made of silver and it has plenty of red details covering it, also the helmet looks like a pair of horns and the visor is quite small, is she even able to see with that thing?

"Look, I am just a passing healer that heard of a plague in this area so I decided to come here and see if my abilities could be of use. My magic is quite good and I haven't met anything I couldn't heal yet so maybe I could give it a try." I said, trying not to make this armored woman mad, which seems like her second nature from what I gathered.

"Shut it, I don't care what you think you can do or not, I say you can't so you can't." She said, unreasonably.

Just as I was about to say something a blast of wind hit the armored girl flying. A man appeared walking just as this happened, he had a sword made of wind in hand as he kept walking.

"Little sister, stop acting this way. You know this place is under my responsibility as mother put me in charge and you were the remain in the castle." He said, and only now that he is closer I can take a better look at him. He has short blond hair and green eyes. He has the height and weight of a standard man in his 20s. He wears the standard armor of a knight, the armor parts are silver in color while the tunics part are blue. But I noticed that he also has a black and white hood attached to the back of the armor part of his neck.

"Fuck her and fuck you too, I already said I could handle this and I WILL do it. I don't need any help from you or some nonsensical healer that came out of nowhere and started speaking nonsense, you and I both know what is happening and if anything this problem needs fighters instead of healers. I will deal with this myself!" She declared, her voice haughty and full of confidence and challenging her brother to doubt it. "I am the best knight in the whole kingdom, no, of the world itself! I will be the next head, mother just doesn't want to relinquish her position to me yet."

"*SIGH* When will you stop being so rebellious, Mordred? Mother isn't nearly as bad as you say she is, you just misunderstood her. She knows how strong you are but she fears that you will jump into attacking before knowing the whole situation. Also, where is Astolfo? If anyone would bring you here is him and your flying skill is terrible so I can only think of him helping you being brought here." The male said.

"Him? He dropped me here and decided to see if there was any new dungeon to explore or thing to distract himself while I 'played around', damn wuss. He didn't even stick by me when I wanted him to." Mordred said. "And until when do you intend to keep acting like you are big shit, Arthur? We both know you are the weaker between the two of us, also-"

"Yeah, sorry about her reaction earlier. She is going through her rebellious phase right now and she was trying to show off, please don't take it personally. My name is Arthur, I am the magic knight responsible for the _Swords of Blue,_ the _Blue Sword Captain_ so to say and that is my sister Mordred she still isn't a magic knight but she is quite talented. I am sorry if this seems weird but you said you were a healer, right? Could you take a look at the diseased? We are trying whatever we can really, so if you really can cure what is afflicting them it would be incredible." Arthur smiled, and I could swear I saw more stars flashing then when Kisch is showing off.

This is all quite out of the blue, and the fact this man looks a bit like Saber and the girl is taking similarly to what the 'son' of Saber talked, if the memories of my dreams are right, is a bit upsetting, but this is not that important for me right now. I must still focus on what matters, saving lives.

"Sure, take me to one of them." I said, and both I and Arthur ignored Mordred's yells in indignation and offenses that could make even a sailor blush.

As we walked I decided not to ask who exactly they are and Arthur decided not to ask me neither, it is possible that we both are guessing the same thing and neither of us wants to know the answer since it would complicate things much more than it had to.

Arriving in a big house I saw multiple people inside, they all were shivering in pain and agony as black and purple spots covered their bodies.

"Terrible, don't you think? This plague is spreading village by village, it already killed about 400 people until now and there is rarely anything we can do to stop it. It only affects those with the least amount of magical energy so most nobles don't care about it but out king could not take it so he demanded someone to come and deal with the situation, I was the one chosen amongst the Sword Leaders, even though my sister has her own ideas, and I brought with me as many healers as I could. The problem is that the healing we can actually provide them isn't nearly enough to save them all, so if you too can help please help us. I promise to pay you back handsomely for it." Arthur said, but I barely listened as I moved before I knew it.

Opening my grimoire I called my spirit.

"What is it you require of me, contractor?" Avalon asked while rubbing her eyes a bit, she did once tell me she likes sleeping, it is so much so that if she can she'd sleep 18 hours a day at least, so I am not surprised if she was sleeping just now.

"I need a field big enough for all of them, the healing doesn't need to be super fast, just make sure that the expenditure isn't great enough to leave me dry in energy." I said, with these numbers, it would take a while to heal them all and the energy needed being just that great. If I let them recover slowly they will still be saved and this will let me keep enough strength to actually move around and do something very important.

Cook them all a healthy meal, they were sick for who knows how long and they probably need nutrients in their bodies anyway. My abilities when using Avalon are mostly left to the spirit so I don't need to focus there at all, just let my powers flow to the spirit will be more than enough.

With this set I let Avalon take care of the injured and asked those around me for some material to make food. They were confused since generally people need to focus to heal others, but with me, it is different so they simply gave me materials to work with. It wasn't nearly enough so I decided to quietly bring out another weapon of mine, one that is quite great but it isn't that practical for direct combat at all.

Quietly I said when everyone turned to the side for a bit.

" _Weapon Creation Magic: Delicious Delicious_ _Spoon **Charmy**_."

This is the weapon I got from being friends with Charmy, a spoon. No, no it is no joke. It is a spoon, but the good thing is that while it is just a spoon it can help enhance the taste of anything I do use it as well as raise the nutrients and make the meals capable of helping people recover their magic energy. It is kind of weird that the handle of the spoon looks like cotton and the fact that the spoon can adjust in size as well is somewhat interesting too.

I still remember the first time I showed this one to master, when I used it to make food was probably the first time I saw him show his shining eyes to anything that wasn't magic.

As I cooked I relaxed, cooking was one of the few hobbies I had that wasn't related to fighting, and this magic weapon was great for it.

First I used a knife to cut in thin sliced the meat they had, I also used the vegetables to begin making a soup and used a bit of everything, using the seasoning they had and a few I had collected along the way here. I also made sure that the thinly sliced meat was fried correctly and used animal oil, they were sick for a long time so while they need something light the sick also need something to help sustain themselves.

The smell was going well, but I know that this alone isn't quite enough for them to recover so I used even more magic energy in it to make the nutrients even greater.

As I kept cooking me and Arthur started talking, apparently this is not the first time this plague has appeared and it is almost certain that this is an attack from the Spades Kingdom, they have a general that specializes in disease magic, a nasty thing that makes people sick. It seems like this general likes to invade here to spread his diseases he created to eliminate as many people as possible, but the difficult thing is that he sometimes moves before an invasion and others he just attacks because he can and he is a sneaky guy so catching him is beyond difficult.

The king usually asks the magic leader to send a magic knight captain to come in this sort of occasions because there is always a chance for the enemy general to appear, or this might be a distraction all the same, or have no great objective beyond decrease the population and grain production of the Hearts kingdom. Arthur advised me to leave as soon as possible after I finish treatment, there is too great a risk of this enemy general moving if I actually save others from his disease so this whole area may become a battlefield or assassins may come after me.

Why is my life so complicated? I just came because I heard people were dying from a disease and now I might be thrown into the midst of a possible war. Sigh, my life shouldn't be that complicated.

I also talked about myself to him, a very censored and selected version of my story. I told about my training, my friends, and we both laughed when I talked about Finral and his attempts of flirting that were about as successful as Arthur's attempts of making his sister Mordred act lady-like.

"Sis, why are you still on your armor? There aren't any enemies right now, remove that ugly thing. It doesn't match you at all." Arthur said, childing Mordred quite a bit.

"Shut it, stupid brother. I rather like this armor so I will keep it on for as long as I want to." Mordred said.

"Then you won't be able to eat Shirou's food and it will all be mine." Arthur said with a sly smile, and I swear I could hear her pout and gnash her teeth from that one.

"...fine, I will remove the helmet and that is it." Mordred said as her helmet dismantled and revealed her face.

.

..

...

...Saber?

Wha? How? When? Is she Saber? My old servant Saber?

No, as I look closer there are a few differences that are unmistakable. Her eyes are a bit different, her hair is much wilder and in a ponytail, and most importantly the air around her talks of wildness ad a feeling of confidence, Saber in the other hand had a certain charisma that is almost completely gone in Mordred. As I keep looking at her I realize from where I recognized her, when I had the dream cycle and saw Saber's past I saw Mordred, the knight of treachery, kill Saber in the end, and this Mordred in front of me looks just the same.

"Satisfied? I took off my damn helmet, if someone attacks my head because of it I WILL blame you for it." She said to Arthur before noticing me still looking at her. "And what the fuck are you still looking at me, damn healer? Take care of your thing and stop looking at me like that."

I turned my head away, but seeing her, someone who should be a heroic spirit, appear opens up a whole new horde of problems.

Are there more? Who is it? Is this world connected to the Throne of Heroes or perhaps this is just another incarnation of Mordred?

This complicates things, if there are more people that in my world reached the level of heroic spirit living here then who knows if they will be allies or not, and how strong they are. If there are those in the Spades or Diamond Kingdom then things will be extra complicated since both nations are enemies of Clover kingdom and I know for a fact that there are some heroes out there that were far from a good person, Medea and Gilgamesh are great examples of terrible examples of heroes.

Wait? Is another version of Gilgamesh here? Fuck, if he is I have to get back to Clover and reinforce them to the best of my abilities.

"Hey, everything okay?" Arthur asked when he saw my distressed face. He then adopted a knowing smile and said. "I know, I do, so don't worry. My sister may be like an unruly cat most of the time but I assure you that she is not such a bad person, maybe you two could hock up, god knows that she isn't getting any marriage proposals anytime soon, or probably ever really, so you don't have to worry about that."

When I heard that I could not resist the attraction force between my hand and my face as I facepalmed. I was not thinking this at all but now he is thinking I am thinking of courting her? No way, she might be quite similar to Saber and all but the 'her' from my world was a mad knight that killed Saber, no way I will be with her.

Also, I am not even sure about marriage, my life is absurdly convoluted and marrying could make everything even more complex.

With my silence Arthur laughed by himself, and when Mordred noticed her brother laughing.

"What is your problem this time, brother?" She asked.

"Nothing much, just that Shirou has been charmed by your pretty face." Arthur asked, and jumped back just in time to avoid a thunder sword aimed at his head. Mordred was furious as she began attacking her brother with a whole lot of strength.

"Fuck, you, BROTHER!" She yelled before her grimoire changed the pages of her grimoire, " _Thunder Creation Magic: Mad Princess Decapitating Slash!_ "

She then moved her blade creating a lightning cutting wave that almost hit Arthur.

Almost.

" _Wind Creation Magic: Mankind Guardian Wind._ " A wave of wind covered his body making a wall that redirected the attack she just received to the sky. It was honestly impressive, it is a great defensive magic for sure and the fact I notice how there is no waste in the energy used just makes it all the more impressive.

As she saw her attack fail Mordred got even more annoyed and came down to attack me, I had to jump and run all around to avoid the strikes and I almost got hit a few times too many, but my reflexes and pure strength did the trick as I don't really have that much magic.

She jumped at me, her figure reminding me of a mix between a furious cat and a demon, before her brother came sweeping in with a strike of his sword directly to her face. His wind sword was rebuilt to lose the edge and become almost like a wood blade, but the fact I saw Mordred get the hit directly and be sent flying was still funny in its own petty way. I know it wasn't her that killed my Saber, but seeing someone who looks like her get hit like that is not a bad experience.

"That is enough, my sister. I was just playing a bit, there is no need for you to react like this. Also, we both know that if anyone actually got interested in you it would be your good luck." Arthur said, and like most older brothers he just made his younger sister angrier.

"Kill you! _Thunder Creation Magic: Furious Empowerment of the Thunder Tyrant!"_ With that, she covered her entire body in red thunder before chasing after her brother with her thunder blade as he kept teasing her while evading or paring her strikes with his wind blade.

After seeing that the two moved away from me I simply continued my cooking, family playing around like this is nothing new after all.

About 20 minutes later the food was done and both Arthur and Mordred used what I can only say is a copy of mana burst of their respective elements to get here as fast as possible.

I gave each a bow of the soup, and both of them started eating it with such hunger that it was admittedly scary. I called the other healers and asked them to help me bring the food to those who were free of the plague already, my energy is starting to run low as the disease is quite strong and the damage made to this many people is quite extensive, but it was still worth it when I saw mothers and children hugging and crying in happiness as they were no longer under the risk of death and when they began eating the food it was even more so a relief. I really am glad that they now are safe and sound, that I know that they will b just fine.

"Well, I guess the reward will have to be even bigger than I expected." Arthur said as he walked to my side, he too looking at the happy faces of people eating. "You really were a great help, Shirou. If not for you I think half of them would have died, perhaps even more, but now they are all recovering. I must say, if you keep helping us we just might have to send my sister to you as a reward."

This time Mordred said nothing as she still was wolfing down almost as much food as everyone else ate together. If I didn't know any better I'd say she is related to Charmy. Seeing her eat so much makes me think of Saber, a more hungry and wild version of her for sure but Mordred still reminds me of her.

WEIGH

A horse came running through the air, or to be more precise a hippogriff, with a pink haired... is that a man or a woman? I honestly can't say for sure, but that isn't that important as the beast finally landed and the (I guess the term Illya used to call this type of person is 'trap' so I will go with that) trap dismounted.

"Mordred, Arthur, we, we have BIG problems. A magic knight battalion of the Spades kingdom is heading this way, and the one in the lead is bad news. It is that plague captain, Andreas, and his group, there is a total of 25 magic knights coming." The trap said, making everyone suck a wave of cold breath.

This is quite the strong attack, and considering this is just a village in the outskirts the only explanation for this numbers is if they are not targeting the village at all, instead they are aiming at Arthur.

Turning to him it is clear that he is taking this seriously, he turns to me and says.

"I am sorry, but I must ask you to leave now. There is no way I am risking a member of another country's royalty to be killed in my presence."

Okay, what the hell? How did he figure out, it is not like I am not disgui... I guess I may have forgotten about putting on my disguise last night as I need to reapply it every day. The one in my body is still in place but the one in my grimoire isn't, and a four-leafed and three colored grimoire calls the attention of others quite easily. He must have realized it from the start, but even so, I cannot abide by what he just said.

"Sorry, but I refuse your request. If you know who I am then you also know that our two kingdoms are allies, what sort of ally would leave the other the moment things get difficult? Also, if you are to fall who is to say that this whole village and those around will not be destroyed just as well? They may not be my people, but helping those in need is never wrong." I answered, making him explode in laughter for some reason.

After a while of him laughing he finally calmed down.

"Sorry about that, it is just that I had made a bet with Gawain-sempai earlier about if the rumors of the hero prince that is reckless beyond belief are true or not, and I just lost the bet. How funny is that, my paycheck of the next two months are going straight to that sunny captain of the Yellow Swords."

"Hah, loser." Mordred said on the side as she put back her helmet.

"Anyway, if you really are committed to it I can't order you not to do what you desire as I have no authority over you, but I want you to promise me that you WILL run away if you feel there is any danger to you. Remember that your death here could cause much more damage and deaths than just this village, so if you want to save more people learn to value your life more. Anyway, do you have any super-long distance spells that you can use? We don't really have any of those but if we could eliminate more mages from the other side before they got to us here then all the better." Arthur said, and while I doubt I could ever run away and abandon those in need I know for a fact that what he is requesting about magic attacks is not difficult.

With a small smile, I asked the pink haired trap to take me to the skies, on the way up he/she told me the name was Astolfo and that he is a he, despite what his appearance may suggest.

Now, it is time to defeat these enemies and most importantly take down the user of disease magic before he hurts even more innocent lives. And so, with a black bow in hand, I began to rain down destruction upon them.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **I just want to specify some stuff here. The leaders of magic knights for each kingdom have their own ways of calling, for instance for Clover it is Knight Captains and Diamond is the Eight Shining Generals. I decided to include a few for both Hearts and Spades kingdoms since both will have great importance to the story later on and here is what I decided.**

 **For the Hearts it will be Sword Captain with colors to differentiate each of them, for instance, Lancelot is the Azure Sword Captain, Arthur is the Blue Sword Captain, and Gawain is the Yellow Sword Captain.**

 **As for Spades, they will be the Seven Generals with each one having an extra tittle related to their abilities and divided by strength as in Primera General, Segunda General, so on and so forth.**

 **I am doing this because I want to increase the size of the world of Black Clover and as of right now there isn't much of anything appearing about either kingdom even as Hearts is an ally of Clover and Spades is the ally of Diamond. I already decided in who the Seven Generals will be, and trust me when I say that the first two are strong to a BS level.**

 **Finally, here are the weapons used this time.**

 _Weapon Creation Magic:_ _Earth Marionetter **Sol**_

 _B- Rank_

This is a glove covering the left hand, it releases a pack of strings from it that connects to the ground and allows for the control of the earth it is connected to. The more magic energy put into the threads the greater the amount of earth possible to control, it can easily force the ground up to create shields as well as control the soil to create tunnels to quick movement.

It is not very practical for direct combat but with enough magic or control, it is theoretically possible to create waves of the earth as if it is a tsunami thus it can be highly destructive when used in the wrong hands. It also can be set to create a specific structure like an earth done and rebuild said dome, but if used in this way the glove must stay in the center of said dome and it will stop working when the energy inside the glove, as well as the one in the air around, dry's up.

 _Weapon Creation magic: Throwing Knives **Finral**_

 _B+ Rank_

It is a pack of ten throwing knives. Each knife can be set at any place and as long as the user is holding one it is possible to change himself to the location of the other knife instantly. It can be used quickly as the energy used for using the said weapon is quite small, but if the distance increases the energy needed also increases proportionally.

It can also be used to teleport an attack away, but if done like this both the knife that took the attack as well as the one that received on the other side are both destroyed and can only be recreated after a period of 24 hours. Its highest selling point is that after it is created it doesn't cost any magic to keep it in the world so it is possible to set up a knife at any given point to work as an escape route for emergencies.

 _Weapon Creation Magic:_ _Delicious Delicious_ _Spoon **Charmy**_

 _C Rank_

It is a spoon made of cotton, it doesn't have any attack power but the food made using it can help recover magic energy, stamina, vitality, return the body to how it should be. It is capable of creating magic dishes that ensure that the person eating them becomes perfectly healthy in a matter of seconds (the best way to compare would be the dishes made in Jojo Diamond in Unbreakable, eating them make even diseases and sadness go away as if they never existed).

It maintains its C Rank due to how it could be useful in a War where it could not only heal but bring all soldiers to full capacity in a matter of one simple meal.


	8. Chapter 8

Andreas was having a great time and his mission was nearly complete as well. His Majesty, queen Semiramis had given him the mission to eliminate prince Arthur around 6 months ago. Apparently, she felt that he was too big of a threat to the Spades Kingdom due to his natural skills and him being the next in line for the throne of the Hearts Kingdom. With his support of most nobles, he could have enough power to reunite everyone under his banner for a battle against Spades.

Thinking that she had ordered Andreas to kill him, this was his last chance for him to prove his worth in still being one of the seven generals as a new generation was aiming to surpass them and they were one scary bunch. Andreas knew that he was far from being a match against the new generals, but he did not want to give up his position just yet to that wrench of a fake vampire, that idiotic torture girl Carmila. She irritated him immensely, but that was beside the point.

As long as he could eliminate Arthur then everything would be fine. For that he created a rather amusing and daring plan. He had started to constantly spread his diseases and plagues on the villages furthest from the kingdom. At first entire battalions of soldiers and magic knights would come to try and help those suffering and catch whoever was responsible, but as he kept repeating this and they kept failing in catching him due to the help of the assassination squad Hassan members her majesty had left with him, he had succeeded in had exhausting the Hearts Kingdom. Their attempts to try and hunt him down is useless so they began to send only healers, but once they came he simply eliminated them. That forced the great Queen of Hearts to send the captains to ensure their safety. As long as a single captain was present he would not move.

Eventually, his patience bore fruit as his target finally arrived. Additionally, he was practically alone since the only ones with him were his brat of a sister, the pink haired girl riding a hippogriff, and a strange healer that had to be eliminated if only because his healing ability was too strong and could spell disaster for the Spades Kingdom in the long run. He now had the perfect opportunity to kill the prince and safeguard his position as one of the seven generals. After all, he had brought many of his magic knight allies that had been with him for a very long time ago. All were hardened warriors that he knows he can trust.

PHEW

It came out of nowhere, an arrow flew towards them with unbelievable speeds, hitting one of his companions directly in his chest.

Andreas had no idea what had just happened, but when more and more arrows started falling down he made a quick decision. Whoever it was that was launching this assault, would die painfully by his hands. He called for everyone to spread out as he launched an assault of his own, along with two of his allies.

"Disease Magic: Great Sickness Cloud."

"Mist Magic: World Encroaching Mist of Mysteries."

"Smoke Magic: Great Cloud of impossibilities."

All three magic attacks were made to obscure the vision of others. Of course he knew that there might still be ways of dealing with this so he ordered one of his allies to use his own magic to create an alternative path towards the enemies through the ground, while another smaller group went through the air.

"Earth Magic: Gaia's Path." a mage chanted creating a big enough tunnel through which five magic knights entered through.

"Wind Creation magic: Sleipneir Following to Victory." One of the magic knights enchanted his horse and the air ahead solidified creating a path mid-air for himself and others to run on.

Andrea could not help but smile, he even made one of the magic knights from his air support create some illusions to hide themselves. He would win this, and there was nothing that was going to stop him from obtaining that head of the Heart prince.

As he was thinking this, a red arrow flew through the mist and hit the one creating the smoke magic to hide. Not only that but more and more of those red arrows kept raining down, and strangely enough whenever he got a chance to look he got the distinct impression that said arrows looked like long red spears.

* * *

Shirou P.O.V.

Good, it worked better than expected.

I was starting to launch my attacks when they launched their magic to hide themselves from my sight. Normally smoke and mist would be no problem since I can still feel approximately where they are thanks to ki and magic detection, but as the smoke, mist, and that weird green cloud were all made of magic it was impossible to feel the presence of them inside with magic detection and they were too far away for me to feel their ki, with the exception of the ones using the spells as they were the center point of the clouds obstructing my vision. Because I didn't know if these clouds had other properties I had decided to take this one step further than just shooting regular arrows, so I closed my eyes and changed the pages of my grimoire.

I have one weapon that is sure to deal with this, no matter how many magic defenses they make, they were all meaningless in front of it. It is a spear that once was welded by Diarmuid Ua Duibhne gifted to him by his parent Aegus Og. It is a powerful Noble Phantasm that can cut through any magic that touches the tip of the spear, making it the perfect weapon for this situation.

"Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: Crimson Rose of Exorcism Gáe Dearg."

As the two meter long spear surged from my grimoire I knocked it on my bow before it began to change forms.

"My core is twisted in madness." I chanted as the weapon shrank in size to become more aerodynamic. I noticed that Astolfo was looking wearily at the spear/arrow in my bow, but I ignored it for the time being. I released the arrow and let it fly towards the enemy using smoke magic and covering the biggest section of the enemies. I kept creating more and more of the same noble phantasm and kept shooting him, trying to ignore how this is somewhat similar to a fake copy of that golden bastard's method of attacking.

Quickly enough they gave up on defending and hiding themselves and started a mad dash towards Arthur and the village. I simply continued firing my arrows, their numbers dropping quickly as I continued eliminating more and more of them, my position being too high for them to actually get to me. The only drawback is that by deciding to make Noble Phantasms instead of regular swords my speed of shooting was lower and I was spending more energy. Thankfully with my reserves as they are I probably can project about 100 B-rank Noble Phantasms without much issue, and with my grimoire the speed of the production and the quality of my weapons is that much higher.

SNIFF SNIFF

I suddenly felt a weird smell getting close to me and Astolfo, even though I couldn't see anything, it would be wrong to disregard it as it might be someone preparing a sneak attack.

After using reinforcement on my eyes I decided to change weapons. It is an especially powerful one that is likely to be overkill and it was never me who saw this one but rather Archer and yet he could never trace it as it was never a weapon meant for mankind. Even now I can only make a shallow and much weaker copy with some of its basic functions but this ought to be more than enough, as this one is a weapon that even weakened was meant to be used by a God.

The All Father of Norse Mythology and father of the strongest Thunder God Thor, this spear required me to spends whatever energy I have left, but it is the best idea I have if I want to eliminate whoever is coming at me with little room for error. After all, this spear never misses the intended target, if they are visible or not and the distance doesn't matter, and while it degraded to a B+ Rank Noble Phantasm its base powers are still very useful.

"Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: The All Father's Spear Gungnir." I said as the spear of Odin came from my grimoire to my hand. Its powers and presence as I held it was like I was holding something that rejected being touched by any mortal, but it still allowed me to wield it as I was this copy's creator. The spear looked like it was made from a large bony spike. There were several jewels on it and the tip was made of a unique blue material that looked like a piece of ice, and its presence felt nothing short of divine.

I felt eyes turning to me, and it was actually a bit troublesome as I don't really like to stand out, but I tuned them out and began to feel both the ki and magic of whoever is coming. They were doing a fine job in hiding their magic but I could feel their ki well enough and when I locked on to them I turned the spear to the direction of whoever was casting the spell, and including those who were behind the two that I was aiming at..

With barely a push the spear flew out of my hand, and I heard a surprised shout as a person was pierced through by it and whatever magic he had on was dismissed, showing that there was a group of magic knights advancing towards us.

I was going to create another weapon when Astolfo opened his mouth.

"Leave this to me, I also must show off a bit." He then opened his grimoire and as he activated his magic. "Item Creation Magic: La Black Laguna."

From his grimoire, I don't even know how to describe it as it seems like an oversize trumpet that was decorated by a child and was so big it was probably the same size as Astolfo, but the important thing is that it is actually a bit similar to a 'weapon' that I have stored in my reality marble/grimoire. I never used it and I only got it from that damned other version of me, besides I doubt I will ever want to since it looks terrible and it is so far from an actual sword that summoning it would be plain hard. If summoning a sword spends 1 mana and a spear or other weapon spends 5 then something like this thing would spend 20 or more.

As Astolfo had his 'weapon' in hand he took a deep breath before blowing the trumpet, a wave of sound and magic energy hit everything around him, and I don't know if he remembers or not that I am also here and that my Avalon is NOT with me.

Astolfo was moving his mouth but wasn't saying anything, and I realized that something wet was running down my head. I put a hand in my ears and when I pulled it out I saw blood, Astolfo had literally just exploded my ear drums. Shit, I am now useless since the internal ears help the body's sense of balance and there is no way I can shoot down things correctly now. I have no choice but to wait until Avalon finishes its treatment and hope that everything goes fine for Arthur and Mordred.

Anyway, we are going to the ground and if we are close enough to the enemies I am sure I will still be able to deal with them. Also, there aren't that many left, I only count 6 that were left alive after I fired my arrows at them.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

On the ground Arthur was keeping tabs on the current situation by using the wind. In the entirety of the Hearts Kingdom, Arthur was well knonw for being the best wind magic user, so he naturally could feel and detect things with great precision using the wind, even if he did not use his spirit.

His spirit was one of the lesser wind spirits that he had found following a confrontation with a pirate from the Land of the Rising Sun. Apparently the current situation there was quite troubling due to a civil war. Some of spirits that were sealed there were originally supposed to be transferred to one of the noble houses where they would be bound and sealed by some of that houses members. However, a pirate crew intercepted them and run away with the items. They endeded up getting too close to the borders of the Hearts kingdom and had the bad luck of running into one of his Majesty's strongest knights, the knight of azure Lancelot. He is likely the most deadly there is when on water, his water blade was capable of cutting everything and there were even tales of him killing sea dragons with just a few strikes and with no problem despite the danger level of these creatures.

In the end, the spirits ended up in the hands of the kingdom's royalty where the queen decided to set them free, but instead of flying away they bounded themselves to some of the knights present. His sister has Takemikazuchi and he has his little friend, Kamaitachi.

As the enemies got closer, he collected himself as he positioned himself on his horse.

"Sister, I am leaving this village to you. I will go and face them head-on." Arthur said and before he could hear her complain or deny his order he had already left.

He had a confident smile on his face as he had an unshakable faith in his own strength. Even after he witnessed Shirou's magic and that final spear, he still maintained his presence of spirit. He believed in his own victory, and these enemies in front of him were also decent enough for him to try and see how far he could actually go.

With his sword in one hand, he summoned his spirit, it looked like a weasel with a sword for its tail and with air currents running around him.

"Is there any problems, my wielder?" Kamaitachi asked politely.

"I want to make this sword 'real'." Arthur said as the spirit nodded before it flew towards the sword. It might seem weird for others but the ability of his spirit was quite different from those of the wind spirit Sylphy. Sylphy was a spirit that granted an amplification for the power to control wind. For instance, if you could only control a gust of wind by yourself, with Sylphy's help you can control a hurricane, but the amount of energy spent is also proportionally greater so it was a spirit better suited for those who possessed large reserves of mana.

On the other hand, Kamaitachi was capable of 'solidifying' wind. It gave weight and made the wind several times sharper and did not spend much more energy to use while also increasing its attacking power by several times its usual level. As the spirit and the sword made of wind united the sword grew to twice its size and the sharpness was such that it could cut through anything as if it was butter.

Arthur also used his magic to increase the speed of his horse, a trick he learned long ago as he, just like most magic knights of the Hearts and Spades kingdom, preferred to use horses instead of brooms. For people of Hearts, it was due to the large amounts of plains and fields and the fact that their horses were a unique species that carried magic energy from birth and could run just as fast as a broom. Some could even use basic forms of magic to help their rider. On the other hand, Spades had a sky that was far too turbulent and hard to fly through as the cutting winds, harsh blizzards and excessively chaotic energy in their skies made it hard for anyone to fly there. Of course the wind dragons that lived there and appeared every once in a while also did not help.

Honestly speaking, Clover was a blessed land in comparison to the other kingdoms. They did not have nearly as many magical creatures and the terrain was easy to live in. However, one of the areas they were lacking in was the number of dungeons that appeared. So few of them appeared here compared to other kingdoms like the Spades and Diamond kingdoms, where for some reason they appeared in abundance.

As Arthur got close enough to the group of magic knights he saw how some of them were looking at the sky with fear in their eyes. Apparently the Clover prince's arrows worked better than expected. While it is true that Arthur would never lose to just a measly squad of magic knights, he still rather preferred if they had fewer numbers to, in the worse case scenario, at least make sure none of them escaped to cause trouble for this village later on. It always irked him how he couldn't just go to the Spades Kingdom to face the enemy due to the mountain range that separated the Spades Kingdom from its neighboring kingdoms, but right now the enemy was right in front of him. Now he could finally get the revenge for all the citizens of his beloved kingdom that were killed by these evildoers.

Once they were within his sights Arthur saw how they changed their battle positions. Their captain had moved back a bit as a magic knight with steel magic went ahead and protected the others while they advanced. It was a good strategy. However, considering who Arthur was, their strategy was useless.

There was a good reason for why he was made the youngest knight leader of the history of the Hearts Kingdom, and it wasn't just because of his pretty face.

As he kept approaching the others, Arthur activated a different spell.

"Wind Creation Magic: Piercing Gale of the Wind Emperor."

The tip of his wind blade glowed as he positioned it for a stab, much like in fencing. The enemies looked confused, but Andreas realized what was about to happen. He had studied Arthur extensively for this mission so he knew this spell. He knew that he had to escape so he instantly, without any hesitation, jumped out of his horse as he yelled for the others to run.

Unfortunately, it was far too late.

As Arthur pierced forward with his sword, it was as if he and his horse had their speed multiplied ten times over. Their speed and piercing power became even more fearsome as he not only he broke the sound barrier, but also pierced through the old knight that was defending ahead, killing him and two others that were behind him. Before the other knights had time to think of what happened, Arthur moved his wind sword in such a way that it sent the head of another of the senior knights flying and along with the head of a nearby knight. It was just his luck that he evaded the strike out of sheer luck while reclining, the surviving knight launched a wave of ice at Arthur in the hopes of slowing him down so as to get away from this crazy beast. However, with perfect swordsmanship, Arthur cut the ice wave in more than 20 positions in an instant, before closing in and piercing the last surviving knight through the heart.

Andrea could not help but feel fear, it was many times worse than what he expected. He knew Arthur was strong, but he had always believed that his strength would not be enough for him to defeat them all, much less kill them. Andreas decided then and there that a direct combat would not be in his favor. His magic was unsuited for fighting head on, so he decided to step back and think of a new strategy. He opened his grimoire to prepare a spell that could help him deal with this situation.

"Disease Magic: Magic Devouring Bacteria." This attack was pretty much self-explanatory. It released a wave of unseen bacteria that would enter Arthur's body and devour his magic in such a way that activating any new spells would be impossible. It was supposed to be an attack that he would use as soon as soon as he got close to Arthur and would then gang up on him with his subordinates, but this would do anyway.

Feeling a ray of hope he activated more and more spells, inflicting in Arthur more and more diseases. However, with every spell he sent, he began to notice that something was wrong. Despite his barrage of attacks, Arthur did not seem affected as he dismounted his horse and began walking straight towards Andreas.

Andreas's hope was being crushed the more he launched spells at Arthur. He could fathom what was happening. He had been attacking and covering Arthur with so many diseases that any normal person would be dead several times over by now. Yet Arthur did not seem the least bit affected.

The glow of his wind sword was getting more and more intense as Arthur approached.

Andreas started despairing as he yelled with desperation."Y-You'd better let me go. My subordinates went to the village through underground tunnels and unless I give them the order, the whole village will be massacred including your sister." Andreas said, hoping that the threat would be enough to make Arthur not kill him.

Unfortunately for him, Arthur smiled a bit when he heard that.

"Sorry, but while my sister is a bit of a brutish tomboy and I am not sure that she will ever get properly married, there is one fact that is undeniable. She is strong, and if these knights you brought are any indication, not even a hundred of them could defeat her."

And with that Arthur plunged his sword into Andreas' heart, finishing the weak general off. In the end, Andreas was just ill-suited for this mission and to face Arthur. Arthur's family was close to being half spirit due to one of their ancestors being a spirit and as such, normal diseases could never affect him or his sister. Sending Andreas against him was the equivalent of a death sentence. Not to mention his spirit had the ability to solidify the air, preventing any of the microorganisms or viruses to pass through and hit him. Honestly any other member of the Sword Captains could win as well but with more difficulty as Andreas was just plain unsuited for direct combat and only really useful in eradication missions.

* * *

Back in the village, Mordred was getting more and more annoyed. Why was is it that everyone could go and have their fun killing off the enemy, while she was the only one to be left behind? Even worse, how could the damn healer suddenly turn out to be the prince of their allied kingdom?

Is it possible that her brother actually wanted her to hook up with him? No, definitely not. She would not accept some wimp that can only use arrows and was more worried about healing others instead of fighting it out as even a friend, much less a hu- hus- partner! Yeah, a friendly partner, that is what he would be. She would never accept him in any way even remotely close to that. Especially since he was such a wimp that he was a cook. Only the weak cook for others. Even if her brother liked to say otherwise and the damn healer's food was acceptable (ignoring the fact she ate almost twice what she usually did, which is saying something) at best.

As Mordred's irritation grew she wanted something to happen. She felt that staying here like this was absurd as she wanted to go and wreak havoc already.

CRACK

Suddenly, cracks appeared on the ground to her left before exploding outwards, as a group of five magic knights jumped out of the ground. Their bodies were covered in earth as they jumped off their horses and looked around before noticing her in her dangerous-looking armor. The moment they spotted, her, they immediately decided that she was the someone they needed to eliminate. It was just a shame that Mordred had her helmet on, so they could not see her feral smile as she activated her magic.

"Thunder Creation Magic: Thunder Tyrant's Blessing." with a deafening roar, her entire body was covered in red lightning as she jumped towards the enemy. While most of them were frozen from the sheer energy she was giving off, one of them stepped forward.

"Elastic Creation Magic: Elastic Love Embrace." he quickly activated his magic, launching an elastic substance from around him as Mordred kept running towards him. She tried using her blade to cut through the substance, but all it did was bend a bit before gluing her sword in place. As she tried to pull her blade back the other magic knights did not gave her the time to do so, as two more attacked from both sides with earth spikes and a ball of magma heading straight for her.

Mordred grit her teeth as she felt angry and annoyed. She really hated traps like this that stopped her movements. It was a weakness that she was well aware off. Smirking she decided to go overboard a bit as she activated another magic.

"Don't underestimate me, brats. Thunder Magic: Rebellious Red Thunder!"

As she said that her whole body and sword exploded in red lightning bathing the surroinding area around her in it. By the time the lightning subsided, there was only one enemy left standing as the others were had been killed the moment she discharged her attack.

"T-hat is unfair! Shouldn't you people from Hearts Kingdom fight using only your swords?" The last one standing said, his body was a bit burnt but his pure water barrier managed to defend him at the last second.

"Hah, are you serious? I don't give a damn about that crap! The only thing that matters is winning and how you do it isn't important. Victory is the only virtue in the battlefield I care about." Mordred said as she launched her blade right into her weakened enemy's heart, finishing him off while discarding her sword.

Not that it mattered since her blade was made of magic and she could make a new one any time she pleased.

"Tch, these guys were boring." She said as she turned around to leave, but just as she dropped her guard two pairs of arms burst out from the eart and caught her legs before pulling her entire body underground with the exception of her face.

When she realized that she got even madder as a magic knight of the Spades Kingdom jumped out of the ground and looked down at her.

"Inexperienced wrench! This will teach you to not look down on your betters." He said as he used his magic to start crushing Mordred's body, he wanted to crush her as punishment for hurting his comrades.

However, the more energy he put into the spell the more apparent it became that something was wrong. No matter how much force he put into his spell, it was not having any effect. It was unfathomable, that he couldn't crush Mordred despite the hundreds upon hundreds of kilos of pressure being exerted on her. However, to someone like Mordred, this attempt meant nothing to her. She then roared in fury as she broke apart the earth around her before jumping out.

"Idiot, the next Queen would never be so weak as to fall for such an attack." Mordred said as she created a new thunder sword and even as the enemy turned around to flee, she did not hesitate to cut his retreating form down..

And so, the attack of the Spades Kingdom ended with no great effect whatsoever.

* * *

Back in the capital of the Spades Kingdom, a brown-skinned, white-haired man walked towards a room with large but controlled steps. His every move was perfectly controlled and his smile was pacifying to such a degree that no one would ever think of him as anything less than perfect and saint-like, even if he would never accept being addressed as such.

He would always say that his hands were far too drenched in blood for him to be called as such, but he'd never regret it as he was doing everything for the good of his nation.

As he finally reached his destination, he pushed open the wild golden doors and entered the room.

It was a large hall with a golden throne high above with a beautiful woman with long straight black hair, sitting upon it. Her features possessed a mysterious and evil allure that made one lost while looking at her. An alluring smell surrounded her entire body as she sat there enjoying a glass of wine. She also had two other well defined characteristics which were her beautiful dress, which was as black as a moonless sky, and most defining of all, were her pointed ears indicating her heritage as a member of an almost fully extinct race.

The others in the room were all extremely different from each other. A few had their vice generals beside them, others were by themselves as they never really bothered in having others to serve them, but the undeniable fact was that none of them were weak.

"Oh, Minister Amakusa, I have been expecting you and the news you bring." The woman sitting in the throne said.

"I have finally received confirmation earlier today that Andreas and his ragtag group were finally eliminated. Now no one will be able to say otherwise to your decision about the new general... my Majesty Semiramis." Amakusa said, much to the pleasure of Queen Semiramis.

Andreas had been a good general for a while, yes, but he had also showed more than once lecherous eyes towards her. When the time finally came to announce his demotion and in favor of a more powerful replacement, he had the gal to try and deny the queen's decision. That is something that she would never tolerate. She hated most humans due to her past but she still learned to respect and love a few of them, even after so many years had passed since the incident. However, she was never one to accept foolish words, or let anyone question her authority.

She had taken control of this country about a century and a half ago and since then, she never allowed anyone to go against her under any circumstances. Thus, she decided that eliminating the vermin was in order. However, before she gave the order her prized minister and lover Amakusa advised her otherwise, offering another solution. Instead of directly eliminating Andreas, it would be better to eliminate all roots of his influence along with the few soldiers still loyal to him, by sending them on a suicide mission.

Of course, some planning was made to ensure that Andreas would not know of the details about Arthur heritage, which wasn't easy, but Amakusa was probably the most influential man in the entirety of the Spades kingdom so it was not impossible for them to do it. Now the generals are in place and his majesty Semiramis is pleased, so everything is going as planned.

"Oh, and one more thing. We have found a new dungeon located near the extreme north of the kingdom so I would like to know what is your decision my majesty." Amakusa said.

Semiramis started looking across the room. Every single one of her generals were enjoying themselves and she could not help but admire this current generation that made up their ranks.

The Primera General, Karna of the Great Sun.

The Segunda General, Enkidu of the Divine Earth.

The Tres General, Ishtar of the Unlimited Fortune.

The Quatro General, Hassan of the Silent Cursed End.

The Quinto General, Anastacia Romanova of the Cruel Winter.

The Sexta General, Gilles de Reis of the Endless Terrors.

And finally, the Septima General, Carmila of the Crimson Pain.

All seven of them were ordered in terms of their strength, with the Primera being the strongest, followed by the Segunda and so forth. Even if the Primera and Segunda were more or less equal in terms of power and then there was the Quatro General, who was possibly his deadliest while in the dark than all the others combined as he was a killer first and foremost. Even so, no one could make mistake the fact that all of them are absurdly strong, to an insane level. She felt like she could defeat any kingdom with this force, and she was not too far from the truth either. Her generals are just that strong.

As she thought a bit about it she made her decision.

"I will send Gilles, you can take a few of the criminals in the dungeon if need be."

The man she pointed to was, in simple terms, disgusting. He had a well-built and tall body, but his eyes bulged to the point that they appeared disfigured on his face, almost as if he was a mix between an owl and a human. He had a luxurious robe with ancient designs that had sanguineous scarlet patterns adorning the pitch-black fabric almost as if it was spilled blood, which might very well be the case. He also donned an inky black cassock, and an evil aura reeled about it as if it was made from the hide of a demon. Everything about him screamed WRONG, as if he was never meant to be a human to begin with and instead was a demon from hell trying and failing to disguise itself as human.

"Oh, much appreciated my queen of darkness, I swear on my name that I shall deliver excellent results and-"

KICK

Gilles found himself flying to the ground courtesy of an armored boot to the ass. Behind him was a violent woman with a tired face and bags under her eyes who then proceeded to step over him, although judging by his expression of pleasure, he more than welcomed it. She had yellow eyes, short blond hair that was almost white (a hair more fitting for a corpse really), along with a well-developed and shapely body. Despite the pale beauty of her complexion, she did not hide the fact that she probably did not care much about appearances, as there were traces of dried blood on her armor and face.

"Less talk and more action, you useless piece of trash." She said.

"Ah, I understand, I will do as you say Alter-sama!" He said while licking the boots that were used to step on him. He felt nothing wrong with his actions as he considered any and all parts of his most beloved Alter to be beyond perfection.

As everyone saw this they decided to ignore it. Despite his rank, Gilles was easily amongst the weakest of her majesty's generals and while Alter was far stronger, she was ill-suited for a leadership position not just because she is full of herself, but also because she did not trust anyone, which often results in her taking out subordinates she did not like. She is better this way, simply fighting it out.

With that set, the queen continued to think about some very interesting news she got a few days back. A chance for her to take care of her two most hated targets for revenge she has had for a long time. She had been contacted by a group that was acting in the Clover Kingdom, a group connected to the people of her race, and she said that she might agree to help them with their cause, so long as they prove their worth.

And she even suggested an interesting way to go about it, and she waited for them to deliver what she wanted. A sign that they are strong enough.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

By the time I finally got to the ground, Avalon had finished healing the villagers and flew back to me. Its healing taking effect quickly as in just a few seconds my busted ears were back to normal just in time someone to give me a rage-filled yell, while also dodging to the side as a furious punch flew right where my head was seconds ago.

"What the hell?! You should have left everyone to me and just stay in your damn house! Also, since when did you have the fucking balls to just waltz in and enter MY kingdom? And why didn't you say a thing about being the freaking prince of another nation? Do you have any idea about how bad things would be if you had actually kicked the bucket here?" Mordred yelled while ignoring the fact that she also tried to punch me in the face just now.

I was about to open my mouth to answer when I heard the sound of galloping and turning to see coming over o his white horse.

"Sister, you shouldn't act like that. Uninvited he may be, he still helped save the lives of many of our countrymen. Not to mention the fact that he helped us to win this fight. As far as I know, we should be thanking him instead of trying to punch him." Arthur said, making Mordred even more annoyed.

"And you shut up too! If you say anything else I will punch you. Even if he wasn't here, we would have still managed to save the people in this village and with the death of the caster, the affected people would likely have survived anyway. So just stop speaking nonsense before I punch you so hard you will be shitting teeth for the rest of the week." Mordred said.

Arthur did not appreciate that and just like Mordred seemed about ready to fight him and Arthur was more than happy to oblige. That is until something unexpected happened.

From out of nowhere, a claw caught the back of Mordred's armor and with a strong yank the gryphon flew away carrying the screaming and mad girl.

"Sheesh, no need to worry. After a short trip around the village, she will be much calmer, I guess." Astolfo said as he looked at his gryphon flying away while carrying a very angry Mordred.

"It never ceases to amaze me, how you can deal with my sister so well Astolfo. It is just a shame that you are not interested in her. At her age, she should have already, at the very least, found herself a fiancee considering her position. Who else would fit the role better than the younger brother of our aerial force commander Georgios."

"Hah, coming from you that honor sounds greater than it is. I am just the little brother of Georgios, Even my gryphon can't compare with his dragon at all, plus I am not really interested in that sort of thing. Princess she may be, I doubt anyone has enough backbone to stand up to Mordred." Astolfo said, making Arthur facepalm.

...Oh, so my position and Arthur's are actually similar. He is the prince of the Hearts kingdom while I am the one of Clover kingdom. Somehow I don't think either of us quite fit in the typical image of a heavy-handed, overprotected and spoiled prince.

... Wait... Mordred is a princess!? As in frills and stuff princess? I somehow think she would rather walk out of the house butt naked before getting into a dress. She is even more of an oddball of a princess than me or Arthur, who is actually spending his time trying to set his sister up with every man he meets.

As I was thinking that a red flash suddenly appeared followed by a large crashing sound. However, everything else meant little to me when compared to the fact that Mordred had fallen right into the pan that still had a lot of food that should have been given to the few villagers that were still recovering.

In that instant, red filled my vision.

Vengeance for the food!

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

As Arthur saw his sister's actions, he could not help but sigh. He'd already lost count of the number of times his sister made him sigh in resignation as she simply never learned or listened to those around her. This time she crashed right into the soup that Shirou had made to help the citizens of Hearts kingdom, and now all the soup was spoiled due to her actions.

Just as he was about to admonish her for her actions, he saw something flash before his eyes and before he could say anything, his sister had been hit in the head by a wooden sword with more malice on it than any other weapon or person he had ever seen. In that moment, he saw a truly evil weapon as it descended again and again on his sister. Strangely enough, the person wielding said weapon was none other than Shirou as he disregarded everything else in place of disciplining the one who ruined his food.

After hitting Mordred a good dozen times, he stopped and said.

"Do you understand what you did wrong?"

"I did nothi-" Mordred started before she was hit again five more times. The sounds loud enough, so that even the birds in the area took flight to flee from the fearful atmosphere.

"Try again." Shirou said with the evil weapon, which Arthur would swear to the end of his days made him see a furious tiger looking down at his sister, still pointed at his sister.

Let it never be said that Mordred would let this slide. Her pride was too big to admit any wrong doings so instead, she stood up with a yell and tried to punch Shirou, only for him to stop her with just one hand. Furious she once again tried to use her Crimson Lightning, not giving a damn if it would hurt Shirou or not.

As the sound of thunder settled, Shirou was still holding onto her hand, but now his shirt and most of his clothes had been burnt away, allowing Mordred to get up close and personal with the most perfect and sculpted body she had ever seen, and her kingdom actually encouraged people to train.

While she was momentarily distracted and blushing like mad by the impossibility of the situation, Shirou flexed his arm while still holding her hand, launching her into the sky. While she was still in mid-air, he was already upon her with the evil weapon in hand as he hit her with enough strength to send her to the ground creating a small crater from the force behind the impact. Thankfully, she reinforced her body at the last minute, ensuring that she avoided major injury, but her helmet was removed from the previous strike and now she had her face all covered with mud and dust.

As she tried to remove herself from the ground Shirou finally came down and pinned her down with both feet locking her hands in place while the evil wooden sword was pointing right at the center of Mordred's face, as she looked up at him with a shocked expression.

"... You will pay for what you did." Shirou said, and just as Arthur was about to intervene and save his sister's life something unexpected happened.

"...ok..."

Mordred actually agreed with someone else.

As Arthur was paralyzed in shock, Shirou released Mordred and dragged her with him to help him cook. Whenever she slowed down, tried to talk her way out of her situation or escape, Shirou would proceed to thoroughly wack her again. Eventually, after a few painful blows to the head, she just accepted her punishment.

For Arthur, this was the very first time Arthur saw his sister cook, listen to others, and most importantly, fear anyone else that wasn't their mother, the Lion Empress.

In the end, the second soup wasn't quite as delicious as the first one, but Arthur still kept some aside to give to his mother. He chuckled as he could already imagine his mother's surprised expression when she eats food made by Mordred would be something he would look back fondly to for years to come.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

I honestly don't remember much after the soup was spilled. All I could recall was that everything suddenly went red and the evil curse energy from the most terrible weapon in my arsenal called out to me as it wanted to deliver some discipline. By the time I came back to my senses, I was finishing a new soup with Mordred, while Tora-shinai was strapped to my back. The evil thing barely satiated by whatever had happened.

Well, at least now things are a bit more peaceful and, while the terrain seems to be damaged by many heads sized holes and Mordred seems much tamer than before, I resumed my previous job of getting people to enjoy their meals.

As I was thinking that a white ball appeared by my side and from it I saw the face of my master.

"Hey, how is it going Shirou? Are you working hard in your magic studies?" Julius asked.

"Yeah, I learned more about Sol and Rill's items, and I've gotten some more practice in using Charmy's quite a bit." I said. "I can use them a little bit better than before. Also, I managed to use one of the mythical type weapons as projectiles for archery, and a decently strong one to boot."

"Wow, I wish I could have been there to see it." Julius said.

"Well, I probably think that it is best that you are not where I am at now. Y'know, what with there being a large distance and all that and you being the magic emperor, staying away from the capital for too long is not a good idea anyways." I said while looking anywhere else but him. With any luck, he won't be able to deduce where my current location was.

"... Where are you now, Shirou?"

Cold sweat started rolling down my back as I tried to think fast on how to answer that.

"I am saving peoples lives." I said.

"I did not ask you what you are doing. I asked where you are doing it." Julius said, his smile vanishing from his face.

"...Close to the border between the Clover and Heart Kingdoms." I said.

"... Where exactly is it?" Julius said, his eyes shining with a dangerous light as he said that.

"In a small village inside the Heart Kingdom." I said dejectedly, lying was never something I was really good at. The best I could manage was half-truths that were effective in misleading people who don't know me well.

On the other hand, Julius knows me very well.

" 'Sigh' Why am I not surprised that you made your way into another kingdom without warning anyone else? In any case, did anything happen there?" He asked while rubbing his temples.

"I came here to help a village that was being affected by a plague, and I ended up meeting the Prince and Princess of the Heart kingdom and helped them to fight off a battalion of knights from the Spades Kingdom that was being led by one of Spade's generals." I answered honestly without holding anything back. When it comes to Julius, it is better to just admit what you did as he would find some other way to get the answers he needs.

"...You have until the examination day to be here. No teleportation allowed. You must drink only Moguro leaf extract that tastes like the waste from the garbage cans of the royal city, and you must create a different weapon every 200 meters. The test is in two months and this is your punishment, so chop chop or I will recommend to his majesty to not to allow you to be a magic knight." Julius said with an evil smirk while his eyes were closed.

As I was about to say something to try and lessen the burden, even if only by just a little, he turned the communications off on me.

Dropping my head, I saw how Mordred was looking at me as if she was about to laugh at my face, before she actually started laughing together with Astolfo with a care about anything else.

As I turned to them to say my goodbyes Arthur put his hand in my shoulder, looked deep in my eyes, and nodded his head as if he agreed with something very serious.

For whatever reason, I felt a shudder going down my spine as he did that and I got a clear impression that I am now royally screwed.

And so began my journey back to the clover kingdom. This is the first time I am seeing most of my friends in a long while. I wonder if they are doing okay.

It wasn't until the next day until I remembered that not only was my shirt destroyed during whatever happened earlier, but also my backpack where I kept all my spare clothes. I guess I will have to go the rest of the way as I am right now.

Oh well, I am sure it won't be anything too problematic anyway.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **This was an interesting chapter. I decided in these people as the generals and leaders of the Spades Kingdom, I hope they please you all.**

 **I am sorry for taking this long to post, it is because I have been quite busy these last few days and I have started a new novel in Webnovel by the name of Kaiba in Doulou Dalu in which Seto Kaiba from Yugioh is reborn in Doulou Dalu as the child of Bibi Dong.**

 **It is interesting and if anyone wants to work as a beta to that one please tell me since I desperately need a beta for that.**

 **The pool will be open until the new year and by then I will remove the previous non-chapter. Thanks for reading, Follow, Favorite and Review.**

 **Until next time, it will be the magic knight exam where Shirou will show off how strong he became. Also, to 'Pointy' I only wanted to show Shirou being humble, he was capable of creating noble phantasms on his previous life and still considered himself third class and a failure, he is someone who can only be called humble. He acting like he doesn't have that much magic and thinking like that too shouldn't be surprising.**


	9. Chapter 9

This was it. The big day had finally arrived. Asta and Yuno had both obtained their grimoires nealry 3 months prior and both had undergone intense training to prepare for this day. The day of the the magic knights selection exam.

Since the day Emyia left, Yuno has put much more effort into training and trying to improve even his most basic skills. He quickly learned on how to improve his abilities and adjust for his shortcomings, allowing him to create his own style of magic.

Meanwhile, Asta used the training regimen Emyia had given him before he left to improve his body and physical abilities. He even tried to implement a few of the tricks Emyia explained to him about moving his 'inner energy'. While it was complicated at first, he was slowly getting the hang of it.

And now the two were waiting in line to sign up. As there are still a few people ahead of them in line, both Yuno and Asta started talking, or more specifically, Asta was talking while Yuno was barely listening to him and practicing his fine control over magic by creating a thin blade of wind and bending or dividing it in places to see how much he can control. In the past, such an attempt was an extremely serious matter that required all his concentration to perform. After some practice, it became easier for him to perform to the point where it required little effort and came much more naturally to him than he ever thought possible.

Suddenly, they picked up the sound of something rather unexpected happening behind them. Turning around they saw that everyone's attention was on a single individual, who was shirtless and covered in mud, moving towards the line. Suffice to say, even Asta and Yuno were surprised by the person's appearance. The magic knights selection exam was a very important matter and everyone wanted to look their best, but even more surprising was how this person was also carrying a giant boar on each arm. Asta and Yuno were even more impressed with the fact that there was no sign of him using magic to reinforce himself.

"Look at that, even a beggar is trying to pass the exam." Someone said in the crowd.

"Yeah, but couldn't he have at least washed himself in the river? I know a beggar is naturally filthy, but he should at least try to make himself look presentable."

"Hah, it's clear that he wants to make some captain take pity on him and take him in."

"I doubt it. No one could is that dumb HAHAHAHA."

And so everyone started laughing at the new arrival. However, said arrival couldn't give less of a damn about their opinions, even if he tried.

When Asta and Yuno saw that, they couldn't understand what was going on until the man got close to them.

"Asta, Yuno? Man, it is good seeing you two here. I was actually wondering if the two of you could do me a favor? I'd be happy to talk with you more but I wanted to go and cook these boars for the people in the slums before the selection started. So could you two save a spot for me while I go there?" The dirty man said, making them realize who it was that was talking to them.

"Emyia?! Is that really you? Why are you like that?" Asta asked while Yuno nodded. Unlike Asta, Yuno actually knew of Shirou's true identity.

"Training." Shirou said without a shred of hesitation, which was technically true since the reason for his current state was because had lost his backpack which contained most of his belongings, including a change of clothes. It also did not help that during his journey, he had been attacked by a bandit group. He had won of course, but their leader was a mud user and his last attack actually covered Shirou in mud and dirt. He wanted to at least bathe before the selection but that was a bit on the impossible side since he was already quite late and did not have the time for it.

As he said that Shirou turned around and used reinforcement for the first time during his entire journey back to the Clover Kingdom, in order to fulfill his current objective as quickly as possible.

Yuno and Asta silently watched as Shirou disappeared down the road and were honestly impressed by Shirou's speed. It looked like he was going almost as fast as someone using a broom to fly.

After a while, the two boys decided to spend the rest of their time talking to one another, about what they just witnessed until it was time for their entry. Unfortunately, by the time it was their turn to register, there was no time to wait for Shirou and he was still nowhere to be found.

Finally, Yuno advanced towards the worker to complete his registration.

"All right then. Yuno from Hage... Could I see your grimoire?" The worker said as Yuno nodded and presented his grimoire.

As Yuno showed his grimoire, the worker's eyes widened and he could not stop himself as he spoke.

"A f-f-four-leaf clover... Wow." As everyone heard this, there were plenty who could not help but voice their admiration, as grimoire like Yuno's were extraordinarily rare. Currently, in the entire kingdom, there were only two people that were known to have this type of grimoire. The worker regained his bearings after a few seconds and said. "You're number 164. All right, next."

As Yuno took back his grimoire he entered the stage to wait for the selection.

Meanwhile, Asta was next up as he ran to the worker with a competitive look in his eyes.

"I'm Asta, also from Hage village" Here is my grimoire!" He had a big smile on his face as he presented his grimoire. It was an old thing and appeared quite ragged and dirty with black stains on it, but for Asta, he loved it deeply as it was HIS grimoire. It was proof that he too was special and possibly even more so than Yuno as he had a 5 leaf clover on his grimoire.

"This is pretty filthy. Is this really a grimoire?" The worker said as he could not help but wonder out loud. It was not quite his fault since normally all grimoire had a pristine and clean appearance and not to mention that a grimoire never got dirty and would always remain clean, making the contrast between a usual grimoire and Asta's even more apparent.

"Huh? Of course it is! Take a good look! See! See!" Asta said as he almost shoved the book right into the worker's face.

"All right, all right. You're number 165, go on." The worker said, making Asta almost skip with happiness.

"OH YEAH! I GOT IT!" Ata said as he ran to the stadium.

Behind him a frivolous looking man shook his head. He was a teenager with a lean build, medium-length blond hair combed backward and held together with a black hairband, leaving only several strands left hanging in front of his forehead. He was also wearing an ugly purple jacket with a black shirt underneath and he acted like he was above everyone else despite the fact that he had an aura of unreliability surrounding him.

"Bah-ha, he must really be a go-getter if he came here all the way from the boonies." He said, thinking himself better despite the fact that he was definitely the weaker one to anyone that actually knew what they are doing.

* * *

Inside the colosseum where the exam was being held, there were already hundreds of people there. Before long a bunch of birds were released inside and it was not long before they started to fly towards several of the exam participants.

"What is up with these birds?" one person said as he was surrounded by four of them.

"These? They're Anti-Birds. They can detect how much magic someone has, so the less magic someone has, the more birds approach you." Another person said as one bird flew to him choosing to settle right onto his index finger.

After the candidate finished explaining, several people understood the purpose of the birds. However, everyone started talking again when someone noticed something unusual.

"Hey! Look at that guy, there is not a single bird around him." Someone said, pointing at Yuno. He was just standing there without doing anything, just wondering what the tests would be like.

While everyone was admiring him someone else spoke out in a very, VERY, loud voice.

"Yuno! This is a competition! One of us will become the magic emperor. Our legend starts here and now, Yuno!" Asta said as he approached Yuno, while having so many birds around him that he was barely visible.

When everyone heard that, a tense silence spread could be heard in the arena for a few seconds as even the birds were quiet. The silence was suddenly shattered as someone started laughing and just like that everyone in the area started laughing at Asta.

"Magic emperor? A brat who doesn't even have magic energy? What is up with that kid?"

"Who knows? He must be crazy to think that he can reach magic emperor. Is everyone from the Forsaken Realm that stupid?"

"I don't know, but if he or that four-leafed brat think they can reach the magic emperor's level they must be crazy. Everyone knows that the most likely person to be the next emperor is his majesty the prince. To even think of competing with him for the title is stupid."

"You said it! The prince has more energy than anyone else since birth and it is said that he just might be the reincarnation of the first magic emperor. Competing with him is reserved only for the elite or for the foolish."

"Or if you are a country bumpkin, like those two, hahahaha!"

""""hahahahahaha""""

And so everyone laughed while Asta ignored it all. He still thought that hard work would lead him to victory anyway and he had the clear image of nobility being a bunch who barely worked considering how the nobles living close to his home were all like that.

Asta was about to say more, before one of the birds took too much of a liking for his cheeks and started pulling.

"Ouch! Come here you damn bird! You will be my next meal!" Asta yelled as he began running after the bird.

Yuno saw this and could only sweatdrop from watching Asta, his rival, running after a little bird.

THUMP

Only for him to hit someone.

As Asta looked at who it was he could only see muscles belonging to a man that he could only describe as huge. He had short spiky black hair, black eyes, a stubble mustache and beard with a cigarette in his mouth, a white T-shirt and black trousers.

As the man looked at him it was almost possible for everyone to see the malice he was releasing take on a physical form.

"Hey, sorry for bumping into you." Asta said, hoping that everything was going to be okay. Unfortunately, his hope went unanswered as he felt his head being held by the said man who started applying pressure.

"I'll kill you brat."

Asta did not know what to do, so he said the first thing that came to mind in the hopes of saving his hide.

"Man, you look old. You must have lived a hard life so I'm sorry for bumping into you." He wasn't quite brilliant with words.

And just like that things went from bad to worse as the pressure around his head increased over a dozen-fold.

"It appears that you are ready to die." The man said while pressing more and more.

Asta started feeling like his skull might crack if this continued so he started trying to release himself by using his strength, but the hand holding him wouldn't bulge at all.

"Oh, there he is. What are you doing down here captain?" A young man wearing a black bulls robe said while approaching the little giant that was trying to crunch the skull of a fool. Before the newcomer got too close, he saw a cute girl and completely lost interest in what his captain was doing. Behind the brunette was another young man with a pale and goth-like complexion. Even as he talked, it was so low that no one could understand what he was saying.

"I'm about to end this little twerp's life." The man said as he applied even more strength and made Asta scream in pain as the man started counting down from 10.

"What is up with these numbers?" Asta asked while feeling a whole lot of pain in his head.

"This is the countdown of the rest of your life, 7, 6..."

As Asta heard that he started despairing even more as he refused to die until he became magic emperor. He put even more strength into his arms to disengage himself and causing the man trying to crush him to feel impressed by the physical strength he displayed. Just as he was thinking if this was enough or not, a hand that was caked with dirt softly grasped his arm.

Looking to the side he saw someone covered in mud looking at him with golden eyes while everyone around them were pointing at him. But despite what others were saying of this mud man, the muscular man, as well as the other two Black Bulls there with him, instantly knew who this person was.

"Captain Yami, I believe that excessive violence against a competitor that is trying to become a shield of the nation is uncalled for." Shirou said, trying to act as civil as possible. He knew that Yami was not the type of guy to hurt someone for no good reason That was more Jack's thing. Although sometimes he got irritated and did things without thinking much, so reminding him like this was usually enough to make him stop.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll let the shrimp go, it is not like he amounted to much being this small and all that" Yami said while leaving Asta to feel the blood run through his head again. "But seriously, where the hell did you go? I thought you were supposed to be training somewhere, not taking a bath inside a pool of shit or something."

"Well, I did train but on my way back from my latest trip I ended up having some trouble due to a bandit group trying to rob me, even though I did not have anything on me. I defeated them in the end, but not before their leader, who used mud magic of all things, fired off one last attack at me. I managed to stop it from causing any damage, but it ended up covering my body in, well, mud. I thought about cleaning up, but I had no real clothing to use and the deadline for the magic knights exam was coming up so I did not have time to waste" Shirou explained.

"Hoh... well whatever. I don't give a damn if you want to walk around covered in mud but at least throw some water over yourself before the exam begins or Nozel and Fuegoleon will complain so much to you that my ears will hurt." Yami said while cleaning his ears.

Shirou nodded at this and while everyone kept looking at him with disgust due to his filthy state, he chose to ignore them as he opened his grimoire.

" _Weapon Creation Magic: Sea Goddess Trident **Noelle**_."

From the pages of his grimoire, emerged one of his most powerful weapons. It was an ornate trident over two meters in length with ocean style designs. It was colored light blue giving the impression that it was made of the finest crystal, but was really made of solidified water. The most distinct thing, however, was how the weapon's presence was leaking with power, and from experience, Shirou could honestly say that this particular weapon's skills easily made it a match for even B+ or even A Rank Noble Phantasms.

Shirou smiled knowing that while it was powerful now, it had the potential to become even more powerful in the future.

Once he grasped it, an unmistakable presence of power was felt across most of the city, alerting people to his presence and, most importantly, the power he had. Just by him standing still, almost all the birds in the stadium flew away without a second thought, with the exception of a certain bird with an annoyed face roosting on Asta's head.

With a single wave of the trident, a sphere of water quickly condensed from the atmosphere and covered Shirou completely, cleaning away all the dirt and filth on his person and allowing his body to be visible for all to see. Truth be told, most males suddenly felt uncomfortably inferior to the sheer masculinity that Shirou's body emanated, while every girl in the stadium were eyeing every detail of his body with hungry eyes, and noticeable blushes.

One thing everyone could agree on was that Shirou possessed a perfect body made for a warrior with all strength and flexibility a human could ever desire and more. When they finally turned to Shirou's face, they saw his signature golden eyes and mismatched silver and red hair.

In that instant, every single person in the arena stepped back in shock. For those who had mocked him, they shaking and sweating nervously from having insulted Shirou earlier, as they feared what he would as retaliation for their previous remarks. However, out of everyone there, only Asta, Yuno, Finral, Yami and Gordon, were not surprised by Shirou's big reveal.

Yuno, while impressed by Shirou's magic power, he did not feel all that impressed by his physical appearance. Both Gordon and Finral already knew Shirou well enough, so his physical appearance was not really news to either of them, and Yami honestly was only thinking about wanting to take a dump.

In Asta's case, he had not yet realized Shirou's true identity, and looked around in confusion as he saw everyone looking at Shirou with shocked expressions.

"Hey Emyia, why is everyone so surprised by you? And when did you decide to paint your hair? Also are you able to see without your glasses?". Asta's ignorance was not because he was not paying attention, but rather he was unable to associate the 'Emyia' he knew to the prince of the kingdom that was revered as a legend. After all, Emyia went around helping people all over the kingdom and spent most of his time either healing their ailments or teaching them different methods of healing, planting, and foraging. Last he heard, the prince was supposed to be undergoing special lessons under the magic emperor.

"Well, to be honest, I must apologize. I may have sort of lied to you and the others in Hage. I never needed glasses, the blue hair you knew was actually not my real hair color, and my name isn't Emyia. It's actually-"

"Shirou Kira Cover I, the prince and next in line for the throne of our kingdom and someone who should not have to associate with the likes of any of you down here." A voice said from above in the stands as a group of people started entering. The one who said it was a man with silver hair with a braid made right in the middle of his face while having the tip adorned by a silver cross. His eyes were sharp as Nozel Silva looked at his cousin who he liked the most but gave him quite a bit of trouble. "And why exactly are you dressed in such a fashion?"

"Not that we mind.", whispered Illya as both she and Sol were standing behind Charlotte and drooling at Shirou's figure.

From his throne in the stands, Fuegoleon was glaring at his younger brother who was about to take off his shirt as well so as not to lose to his rival in terms of 'manliness', earning him a very rough smack to the head. Rill had taken out a white canvas and started drawing something when he saw this situation, while his vice-commander, a brunette women wearing elegant robes, carrying an ornate staff topped with a crystal-like object floating in the center of two loops, smiled as she started wondering if it was possible to create a magic item that could work as instant clothes in cases of extreme urgency. She does love her inventions after all.

The captains of the Purple Orcas and Coral Peacocks did not show much of a reaction to Shirou as the captain of Coral Peacocks Dorothy Unsworth was sleeping, as usual, and the captain of Purple Orcas, Gueldre Poizot, was currently thinking about what his next investment would be and how to exploit his subordinates.

However, the captain and vice captain of the next group were certainly more interested in Shirou.

"Daddy, he looks like fun. Can we keep him? We promise we not to slice him up too much." asked a young girl who looked to be about 12 years old with shoulder length white hair and two scars, one over her left eye and one with some stitches under her right. She was currently dressed in a cloak-like version of a magic knights robe, underneath which revealed that she was wearing extremely revealing clothing that was more akin to black lingerie. Both her arms were bandaged with her left hand wearing a glove and she also had pink shoes on her tiny feet.

"No, no, Jackeline. We can't slice him up, he is the prince after all. You can choose another toy to play with later." A man said while patting the head of the cute little girl. He was a tall, lean man with gold eyes and loose, medium-length black hair. His most defining feature was was a thin, red scar running on the left side of his face down from his forehead to his chin. This frightening looking man was Jack the Ripper, the captain of the Green Mantis squad, and the little murder machine sitting on his lap was his adopted daughter, Jackeline The Ripper.

"You promise?" She said while looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"As long as you promise to eat your vegetables and not skip on your training with me to make you the next captain when I retire and remove the head of Yami' then yes you can get any toy you want. Just remember that I get to slice them up first." Jack said with a smile that would have looked evil and sadistic to anyone else, but to Jackeline, it was the coolest thing she has ever seen.

"Yay! A new toy to play with! Daddy we love you." she said while hugging him. These two looked like a perfect family together, which should not be possible considering that they were the closest thing to battle fiends anyone could ever hope to find.

As all this new information appeared it went way over Asta's head. It took him a few seconds to process it, but when his brain finally caught up he could not help but yell.

"WHAAA?! You're the prince?! Since when did THAT happen?! And why were you in our village like that helping those there?... Wait! I know why. It is so obvious... YOU WERE AFTER SISTER LILY! I will not let you get her! I will be the one to give her the happiness she deserves, you hear me!" Asta said while many people in the crowd started glaring at him. Yelling at the prince isn't exactly something most of them approve of, and the fact he was doing it like they were old acquaintances is even crazier.

Shirou could not help himself from giving a small laugh when he heard Asta say that with a raging fire in his eyes, like he was a warrior of justice trying to protect the innocent.

"Calm down Asta. You have nothing to worry about, it is not anything like what you are thinking of. While I admit, Sister Lily is a very attractive woman, I have no such intentions towards her. I just wanted to help the citizens of my kingdom by spreading some of the knowledge I had about herbs and other things. As a member of the church, I thought that it would be better if Sister Lily knew more about the field, considering that a lot of people go to the church when looking for healing." Shirou explained, hoping that Asta would believe him. Of course, Asta could never believe anyone could be around sister Lily for so long and not develop feelings of love towards her as she was simply the perfect woman in his eyes.

Before Asta could yell again, a silver substance covered his mouth as Nozel walked looked down at Shirou from his throne in the stands.

"Your majesty, would you care to explain why you are dressed in such rags? It would disgrace the royal family if this sort of story were to spread, so please give us a good explanation for that." Nozel said, before someone above him added.

"And you'd better not to give us all half-truths, Shirou." A man said while looking down from a balcony above the magic knight captains. When people saw who was sitting there, the uproar it caused was in no way inferior to the one caused by Shirou's big reveal.

"Is that...?"

"Yeah, I did hear that is what he looks like."

"But, shouldn't he be too busy to be here?"

"Idiot! He came to see his disciple in action of course."

"Oh, and on his side is also William Vangeance. I guess he will be the next magic emperor after all."

"No, no, no, there is still a lot of time after all he is still in top form."

While everyone was busy discussing the magic emperor's arrival, Julius Novachrono sat on his own throne, while William jumped down to assume his position with the other knight captains. On the outside, Julius was trying hard to look as dignified as a man of his position as required to be. On the inside, however, he was doing a little happy dance for the chance at looking at all the wonderful new magical abilities of the exam candidates. Most importantly, he would be able to get out of that accursed paperwork that never seemed to end, while leaving it all to his assistant.

When Shirou saw his master he could only barely restrain a sigh. He knew perfectly well that hiding anything from him was much easier said than done as Julius was already way too used to Shirou and could tell right away whenever he was lying or hiding information from him. As such he could only be honest here and hope for the best.

"I may have gone to the Hearts Kingdom to help save the people there who were suffering from a plague and during treatment helped Prince Arthur and Princess Mordred deal with an attack from Spades kingdom and afterward had had a little fight with Mordred that resulted in all my things being destroyed including my clothes... but don't worry, I can assure you that I am in perfect health and-"

"I EXPECTED NOTHING LESS OF MY RIVAL!" Leopold loudly proclaimed. "Yes, this is what a hotblooded man should be like. Fighting for what he believes in. Big brother I am not going to lose. I will go and fight with the Diamond kingdom right no-"

"No, you will not." Fuegoleon said, cutting off Leopold's outburst, while grabbing the scruff of his shirt, before he could run off to another nation and get into trouble.

Many people could not help but gossip after hearing about Shirou's recent actions. For many of them, the idea that Shirou could just talk about an event like that as though it was nothing, was completely unheard off and his decisions are even more strange for most of them. Before this could go on any further, fireworks started all around them and they had to drop the issue as the selection was about to start.

Shirou heard more than one 'we will talk later about this' from both Fuegoleon and Nozel as the two kept glaring at Shirou and imagining how to better ensure that he will not go do something TOO stupid next time.

It was a lost cause.

After this Yami and Finral went up to the balcony where the Knight Captains were to stand.

The only ones in the stage now are the examines and Gordon, who was simply forgotten there despite being right by Shirou's side. The only one who remembered him was Shirou who put a hand on his shoulders before saying.

"Don't worry, Gordon. I am sure that the others only forgot about you by accident." Shirou then put a good amount of reinforcement in his ears to hear Gordon's answer.

"It is fine, I am used to it. I hope you do well and that later we might be able to go to some tea." Gordon said, already imagining that Shirou would not hear what he said, only to get an answer.

"Sure, but I think a coffee would do better. Wish me luck." Shirou said before turning his attention to the knight captains. Gordon looked shocked at it, before smiling a bit and leaving to stand behind his captain.

As everyone was beginning to calm down, William stood up to address himself to the crowd.

"Candidates. Sorry to keep you all waiting. I will be conducting this exam." with that, he took out his grimoire and activated his magic. "Magic Tree: Descend."

With that, the ambient itself changed as the sky grew darker with a large number of clouds converging to a single point. From the center of the gathering, a giant tree began to appear. It was gigantic in nature and size and formed more than two hundred branches with each one making a broom and then distributing them to each candidate. All in all it was an impressive display of both William's absurdly high control and magic power. It was also lucky everyone's attention was currently focused on the tree he created, or else they would have seen the magic emperor 's face, which would have destroyed his public image as his eyes were shining with the innocence and curiosity that one would expect only from a child seeing something 'cool' for the first time.

"We will now begin the magic knight exam." William said as he closed his grimoire. "We will now have you all take several tests. The nine of us will evaluate your performance, and then select the candidates that we would like to add to our squads. If chosen, you will join the squad. If you are chosen by more than one squad, you may choose the squad you would like to join. However, those who are not chosen by any captain will be considered unqualified to join the magic knights. For the first exam, we will have you all get on those brooms and fly. Mages who can control their magic powers should be able to do so instinctively. It is the most basic way for mages to move on our country after all. If you cannot fly on a broom than you shouldn't even be here. Very well, you may begi-"

"Just a second William, I want to add something." Julius said, making William nod to his lifelong benefactor and teacher. Julius then turned to the audience, "I want to thank you all for being here and to be part of this year's magic knights exam in the hopes of becoming the latest generation of protectors for our kingdom despite the many dangers the job may incur. I know that many will not pass, but even so do not lose heart. There is always a chance to improve yourself. But, if you all want a chance to become a magic knight I will give any and all a chance to be able to chose whatever squad you may desire entry. All you have to do is defeat my disciple, Prince Shirou, in any event. If there is someone capable of accomplishing this task you can choose any squad or even work directly under me. If this happens his majesty will also have to come work under my leadership in the capital."

Everyone's eyes suddenly burned with determination when they heard this. A chance to work under the magic emperor was beyond rare and also much safer than being in a magic knight squad and provided even more opportunities to improve one's skills. Amongst everyone there, the one most motivated and frustrated was undoubtedly Shirou.

He knows that Julius is trying to keep him safe as he is a bit prone to go out and get himself involved in risky situations. While it may sound like a good idea at first, being beside the magic emperor all the time would hardly give him many chances to help others. Rather, he suspected it was one of Julius ploys to push all of her workload and paperwork onto him.

"Now, BEGIN!" Julius said happily as everyone started taking flight.

Instantly, Shirou flew to the skies without even changing his position. He always admired how practical brooms were, so he learned how to fly one at a very young age. While some of the examinees were trying to show off, Shirou decided that it was unneeded. All he needed to do was just show that he was the fastest and the most stable at controlling his broom. Thus, he began changing his position in mid-air before starting to fly around the area while sitting on his broom. He controlled his broom to accelerate and give sharp curves all around without losing momentum by imagining himself fighting on top of the broom. The only problem was that as his imagination got more and more active and he kept imagining himself attacking others while flying he ended up reacting in the same fashion after a while. As a result, it was not long before he started standing up on top of the broom and with perfect balance stayed in attack position while changing attack stances on his broom while flying all over the arena at extremely high speeds.

He didn't even notice nearly every other person looking at him perform such complex movements. With the sky clearing around him and the light hitting him just right, he would only understand how he looked at this time when he later saw a painting done by Rill that showed him with a bow in hand and with an appearance that made Shirou wonder if the painting was even about him in the first place.

As the first trial came to a close, it was no surprise that the best one was Shirou.

The next test required them to break a wall using magic. For this test, he created a bow and decided that he HAD to go overboard if he wanted to ensure he got onto a magic knights squad so he made a copy of Brahmastra, the arrow that could even be used as a sword and an A+ Rank Noble Phantasm. Of course, he did not activate the arrow to its fullest potential and instead simply shot the arrow while trying to make sure that it would go upward. The result was him breaking the wall in front of him and causing the arrow to destroy part of the stadium's top. Even then, the arrow continued going forward, hitting a cloud and changing its form. Suffice to say, he also managed to reach first place in this test.

Next was the Magic Ability Control test where candidates had to shoot down a moving target above him. Unfortunately, no one warned Shirou that he only had to do his own so he ended up shooting down almost half the targets using simple blades. In the end, he was requested to wait for the end of the test or some of the other candidates would likely not even have the chance to finish their own tests.

In the creation magic exam, they were requested to create something using their magic. Most tried to show off by creating flashy magical constructs, but as Shirou was asked to wait before he could create his own creations or he might trouble and distract the other participants. When the time came for his own turn, he did not know what to create. However, seeing as how so many people decided to make big statues and things like that, he decided to go big too and decided that he would create something that surpasses every other creation and made the biggest possible impact.

 _"Mythical Weapon Creation magic: Green Field Cutting Through the Thousand Mountains: Ig-Alima!"_

Everyone gaped as he created a sword over 40 meters high and even though it did not have any special powers its sheer size and presence was impossible to be denied. Especially since it was a Divine Construct and as such exerted upon others the feeling of its divine and oppressive presence. Even as it was stabbed into the ground and created a shadow and image that could be seen by everyone in the entire city. Not hearing any reaction while standing above the sword, mostly due to the shock of everyone else there, he felt uncertain if he would be considered first place so he went ahead and created about three dozen blades and let them drop from into the ground below, making the entire place look like something straight out of fantasy as each blade was equivalent to a D Rank Noble Phantasm.

For the development magic exam, it was requested that they fed a special type of seed that grew with magic energy to see just how much energy they could release at any given time. Most only created something about 5 or 10 centimeters in height while Yuno, being the second best up until that point, managed to make a tree that reached 2 meters in height within a couple of seconds.

Shirou, meanwhile, did the same thing as everyone else, but due to his absurdly large reserves made a 3 and a half meter tall tree. It may not have been on the same level as William, but to be fair Willian had World Tree Magic so this test was better suited for his abilities.

As this happened Shirou felt confident that he would earn first place in every test. His only concern right now was the last test, which was always the same no matter how many times it happened.

"All right, the next exam will be the last one. You all will engage in one on one combat." William said as everyone looked at him with some surprise.

Before everyone could ask a question, Fuegoleon moved to talk.

"You all will pair up and fight against a fellow exam participant. Use of your grimoire is allowed. Fighting is the main duty of a magic knight, so show us your true abilities and why you deserve to be a magic knight."

"As soon as one of you yields or becomes unable to fight, the exam will be over. There will be mages who know healing magic on standby so there is no reason to worry about seriously injuring your opponent." William said.

"So you are all to fight to your heart's content!" Fuegoleon finished sending everyone into a frenzy as they started looking for ideal partners with whom to fight against.

Shirou was about to do the same when he suddenly caught wind of a familiar scent that belonged to someone who he wanted to see and that he worried about far too much. Considering how he had gone almost a whole year without seeing her, he could imagine how she might not be doing so great.

With this in mind he moved away from the main arena to find her, leaving behind a very upset Yuno who wanted to challenge Shirou to a proper fight. Now all he could do was look around for someone else to fight with, and demonstrate how just how skilled he was.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

Wow, that was nerve-wrecking. Having to try and put up a show for others is much more exhausting than I thought, but I think this at least ensures that I will remain free of having to stay in the capital all the time.

Anyways, this unique scent of fresh spring water and vanilla that could never elude me. I felt it around the stadium not long after I got here, but I also feel that it was almost about to leave. Knowing her, she might be suffering from her low self-esteem so I decided to go meet up with her and talk to her for a bit.

After following the scent and searching different parts of the stadium, I finally managed to find her. She was dressed in a very beautiful and uniquely designed white blazer with a sleeveless and backless purple dress underneath. It fits her well and I must admit that she has gotten even prettier since I last saw her over a year ago. Although deep in her eyes I couldn't see any confidence. It was almost as if she truly believes herself to be inferior, even though she actually possessed unfathomable potential. She has not seen me yet and was not really paying attention to her surroundings, and was in deep thought.

"Noelle... Earth to Noelle." I said loudly as I approached her, making her finally notice me.

"Shirou is that yo... WHY ARE YOU WALKING AROUND HALF-NAKED!?" She yelled that last part so loudly that if I did not know any better, I would think she was using sound magic.

I had to cover my ears, which only served to show off more of my biceps and triceps, causing her to blush and making her look as red as a tomato.

"Sorry, it is just that-", before I could properly explain myself, a bundle of cloth hit me right in the face.

"Cover yourself! I don't really want to keep looking at you all the time you know?" she said while looking in the opposite direction, but I caught her quickly turning around to look at me more than once.

Seeing her like that, I don't know why but I felt like messing with her for a bit. Usually, whenever I mess with her she usually gets out of her depressed state and her reactions are often pretty funny so I decided to try it out. Oddly enough the cloth she threw at me could work as a mantle if needed. The materials were of very fine quality, so its likely that she probably bought them to make a dress for herself later and kept it in her magic purse, a basic mystic code that can contain items up to 5 times its actual size.

I could have worn it around my shoulders but I decided to use it on my hips to make me a 'skirt' in order to keep showing off my muscles, much to her embarrassment.

"WHY ARE YOU NOT COVERING YOURSELF?!"

"Because there isn't enough cloth for that." I said, partially lying through my teeth. It is true that there isn't enough to cover myself, but it is enough to cover my torso and most of my thighs. She ended up relenting and decided to show off her regal persona by turning to me with a stoic face, while ignoring the fact her eyes kept looking everywhere else but me and she still had a small blush on her face.

"It has been a while, but where have you been anyway? I tried getting in contact with you but no one seemed to know where you were in the past year." She said.

"Oh, I was a bit there," I said while flexing my arm while pointing at one direction, "a bit in that direction as well," I said while turning both arms into the other direction and started flexing both arms together. "I also went there," I said while turning my back to Noelle and flexed my back muscles while pointing to ahead of myself. "And a bit in all that area." I said while turning back to her, spinning my right arm while pointing at all directions around before holding my right hand with my left arm and to show off my pectoral muscles.

Noelle got quiet as I did that, but after a very, VERY, tense and embarrassing silence she broke out in laughter. It may have been somewhat embarrassing to do that, but it was worth it once I saw her relaxing and forgetting a bit of whatever it was that was pressuring her before.

After she calmed down I turned back to a more comfortable position before talking to her again.

"So? Is there anything that's bothering you?" I asked.

"... Yeah, it is just that I wanted to participate in the exam before but Nozel-niisan came to talk me out of it. He said there was no point in me trying as only the Black Bulls would ever accept someone like me and I was already invited there anyway." Noelle said, showing how dejected she was from hearing that.

It made me sad to see Noelle act like this. She was a sweet girl and who only desires recognition from the brother she respects above anyone else, but despite that, Nozel does not like her at all. While I understood that such a fragile relationship should not exist between siblings, I also knew that this was most likely Nozel's coping mechanism with how he dealt with the loss of his mother following Noelle's birth, as well as the pressure of having to deal with upholding his family's reputation and social standing, after losing both of his parents at such a young age. In the end, no matter how much I disliked Nozel's actions toward Noelle, it was overshadowed with the sadness and pity I feel for Nozel.

However, it must be said that unlike those two pests, Nebra and Solid, who went as far as to actually hurt and humiliate Noelle, Nozel never laid a hand on her and always made sure that nothing bad happened to her. I could not help but sigh at just how complex Nozel was as a person.

But, seeing Noelle like this right now I know just what to say to bring back that fire in her eyes again.

"Well, isn't that still amazing? I mean, you were recognized by the captain of a magic knight squad even before the exam. This is the perfect chance for you show to everyone that you have what it takes to reach the top and stand alongside your brother, regardless of what squad you might be in. Besides, a lot of the people in the Black Bulls are great. There is Finral, Gordon, and also Charmy is there so I am sure you will be able to fit in well enough." I could still see some of the insecurity holding her back, so I decided to push her forward just a little more. "Wouldn't this be a great chance to show everyone that you have what it takes to uphold the reputation of the Silva Family and finally get the approval and respect you deserve from everyone else?"

Just like that, the fire in her eyes reignited fully as she heard that. Although, I could still make out some lingering hidden within them.

"Why is it from everyone 'but you'?" She asked, only for me to smile and put my hand on her head. It was moments like this one when I see just how small she actually is when compared to myself. Looking at her closely, it is possible to see how frail she truly is on the outside, but her eyes tell me that on the inside, she is stronger than most people could ever hope to be.

"Because I already respect you a whole lot. You are, without a doubt, one of the bravest people that I have ever met. I know you can do anything you put your mind to, so no matter what you have my support all the way." I said and just like that she hugged me. Of course, it only lasted a second as she quickly remembered that she was hugging me while I was barely dressed and jumped back, making me laugh a bit at her antics.

After a while, I said my goodbyes and returned to the competition area. It was time for me to find someone to fight against.

* * *

There was no one left. By the time I got back, everyone had already partnered up in pairs, leaving me the odd one out. Considering the current situation I will either not have the chance to fight anyone or something crazy is about to happen. Unfortunately, knowing my luck and my master, I am betting on the second option.

As the fights came to an end, I was literally the last one who did not have a partner to fight against. In that awkward silence, master decided to address the contestants and make sure to escalate things even further. He always did love seeing me push myself as much as possible, it was the form he trained himself and others that he got interested in, like William. Additionally, despite popular belief, he did teach Yami the same philosophy of always going beyond your limits.

"As there is only one person left, we would normally allow this person to challenge someone who already fought before. However, considering that everyone here is already quite exhausted from today's events, I would like to propose something a bit different. For those of you who lost their matches earlier, we have decided to allow all of you a second chance to demonstrate your skills, by having you all simultaneously challenge the prince in combat. If you can defeat him within 3 minutes you win. If the prince is still standing after time is up, he wins."

As soon as he was finished explaining, all of the participants began to talk amongst themselves. Most of them had no desire to face me after my previous shows. Although considering that my opponents would have the advantage of attacking me as a groups, it is highly likely that more people would be willing to participate.

My prediction quickly came true as over 60 people made their way to the stage to fight me.

Just as I was about to begin the fight, I heard of voice whisper something into my ear.

"And no using Mythical Weapon Creation, that is just plain unfair", and just like that, my master ensured that this challenge would offer a small advantage to my opponents. He used a simple mystical code that allowed him to talk with others from a certain distance . For those who are actually good with magic it is easy to notice that such an item was more suited towards playing practical jokes more than anything else, but for someone like Julius, it was easy to find more than one use for such items.

And so now I have to use only my regular weapon creation magic. Although in all honesty, I did not find that this handicap would make things all that challenging for me. All things considered, this was actually an ideal opportunity for me to get some training in with them.

"Ready... GO!" As soon as the announcer started the match, around 20 people had already launched spells at me, while some were patiently waiting for an opening.

My weapon already decided, I activated my grimoire.

 _"Weapon Creation Magic: Throwing Knives **Finral**."_

From my grimoire, I manifested a total of 10 throwing knives, five in each hand. Before my opponents had time to process happened, I quickly threw nine of them all over the arena before any of my opponents' attacks reached me. Just as it looked I would be struck with a barrage of attacks, I activated the one dagger I still had on me, teleporting to a different dagger that was already situated around the center of an enemy formation.

When facing multiple enemies one of the most dangerous positions is right in the middle of them, but this also is easily one of the safest spots since they can't attack freely or risk taking out their allies. I smirked as I decided on my next weapon.

 _"Weapon Creation Magic: Great Rose Whip **Mimosa**."_

A whip made out of vines appeared in my hand and once I grasped it, I lashed it out causing it to thrash around with incredible speed as i took out a large group of opponents with a single attack. I did not stop to look at how many I had defeated as there were far too many opponents. Instead, I maintained my focus and concentrated on defeating every enemy within striking distance.

I did notice this one noble mage with larger magic reserves hiding behind two other mages while preparing a lightning spell. If my guess is right, the release of magical energy will probably be in the form of a laser. lancing down, I noticed one of my knives lying nearby. In one fluid movement, I used my feet to kick the weapon up, and summoned my next weapon.

 _"Weapon Creation magic: Prideful Lion Spear **Fuegoleon**."_

A long red spear adorned images of lions, appeared in my hand and I aimed it right at the attacker just as he used his lightning attack that, which, as expected, was a single direction ray of energy. I smirked as I activated my spear's power and from its tip, firing a beam of concentrated fire. It may not be as powerful as Fuegoleon's and was quite easy to avoid since it always fired in a single direction, but it was more than enough to pierce through the enemy's attack and hit him in the shoulder.

Feeling several magic preparing to attack me from behind, I did not hesitate in transporting myself to the dagger I threw upward, allowing me to evade the attacks that were launched at me. While in the air, I decided to change weapons. Prideful Lion Spear is amongst the best single target weapons I have and when going at full power could possibly match even an A Rank Noble Phantasm, while Great Rose Whip is a great weapon for dealing with a large number of enemies from unexpected points. However, due to the distance and the number of targets, neither were really ideal weapons in this instance.

As a result, I quickly dispelled both weapons before activating my next one, making sure to keep in mind the number of targets as well as my current location.

 _"Weapon Creation Magic: Evil Poison Cape **Gordon**."_

A cape that looked like something straight out of a Dracula film appeared on my back. It was all black on the outside, while the inside was dark red and grey making for an interesting color pattern. This cape's power allows me to hide my presence as long as I am wearing it in dark places. Only those who are actively looking and are good in sensing magic are able to feel its presence even if its only for a bit. At the moment, I was more interested in using this cape's other special skill.

Opening the cape, I poured magic energy into it, causing it to glow before a barrage of bullets made from poison and curse magic started raining down on the enemies below me. Some of them managed to put up proper defenses, but a large amount of them did not react in time or failed to react appropriately and thus were hit by my bullets. Now there are only around 10 people left for me to deal with.

I quickly created my next weapon. on the one hand it was extremely useful for breaking through an enemy's defense. However, considering how devastating its power is, I am a bit conflicted about using it. Then again, as long as they don't die, I can heal them so there is likely no problem.

 _"Weapon Creation Magic: Berserk Hammer **Illya**."_

As I said those words a mace appeared in my hand. It was about 2 meters tall, with a hammer big so large that it required me to use both hands just to hold its handle properly. The face of the hammer was covered in dangerous looking spikes that could pierce through almost any defense. Using a fair amount of reinforcement magic, I dashed towards my first victim and with one swing I shattered his earth wall and sent him flying out of the arena.

Not stopping there, I continued with my momentum and quickly dispatched three other enemies, before one of them, wearing a purple jacket and looking quite unremarkable, launched a magic attack at me. I blocked the attack with the handle of the hammer before smashing it into the ground to change the terrain and cover the area in a cloud of smoke and debris.

While my opponent was distracted I took the opportunity to change my weapon. While it had the most attack power compared to my other weapons, I was still not used to handling it for long periods of time without feeling tired and its size was only good if the enemy was in extreme close combat as it can disrupt enemy's defenses.

" _Weapon Creation Magic: Short Flaming Spear of the Great **Leopold** and Prideful Lion Spear **Fuegoleon**_."

I created a short and long spear, the two were quite similar in appearance, with the only difference being that longer spear was all red, while the shorter one was red mixed with yellow, giving the appearance of actual fire.

With both in hands, I used a sweeping move with the Short Flaming Spear of the Great Leopold that released a sea of flames all around me. I made sure that the flames were not too intense and aimed towards those still standing as I did not want to risk hurting those who had fallen. In the end, the fire managed to defeat around 3 more opponents and forced others to look away from their brightness, who I quickly managed to dispatch by using Prideful Lion Spear's lasers to hit them on their sides.

And just like that, it is ove- wait! There is still one opponent left standing. It was that same guy with the purple jacket that tried to attack me earlier. Somehow, he was able to partially evade my attack and was only injured on the side of his arm. I was surprised at how skilled my opponent was. He is even showing a fake expression of panic to lure me in to attack. It was something that I saw people do more than a few times during my previous life. For this type of crafty opponent, I must make sure that he can't get too close and if he was able to escape the laser from before he might be able to escape it again.

Thus, I dispelled my weapons and prepared to activate my next one.

 _"Weapon Creation Magic: Mercurian Claw **Nozel**."_

Mercury suddenly flowed down my wrists as the large signature eagle claws were formed. While normally I prefer using this type of weapon for close quarters combat, but he might be trying to bait me with his unreliable looks. Smiling at my strategy, I poured magic energy into my claws, causing them to quickly grow in size until they were around 10 meters tall. I gave my opponent a serious look, as I saw him create a lot of shields in front of him. I don't know how strong his shields were but he made one fatal mistake in believing that the only way for me to get to him was by getting through his shields.

I still have my throwing knives scattered throughout the arena and with but a thought, I teleported myself to one of them located behind the mass of shields and into his blind spot. Before he could react, I brought one of my claws, after dulling it, down on him with tremendous force.

BOOOMMM

And just like that, I finished off the last of my opponents. Now that combat was over I could finally relax and considering how teacher's eyes are shining like a little kid in a candy store, I think I did okay. I haven't seen him like this since I managed to make a weapon from my bond with him. In all honesty, among all of my weapon creations, the one best suited to match the power of an A+ or even A++ Noble Phantasm would be the one born from him. The only downside is that the cost of using the abilities of Julius's weapon are huge and is the only one of my weapons that actually drains me of my reserves.

Oh well, now there isn't much more that I need to do but wait and hope for one of the squads to choose me.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

After watching Shirou's 'fight' which didn't even last 3 minutes, Yuno clenched his fists. He wanted to be there to challenge Shirou and become stronger. He refused to accept Shirou as his superior, as HE would become the one to achieve the title of magic emperor. That was the promise he and Asta shared so long ago and he was as stubborn as someone could possibly be.

He would always try his best to win, and he would become the strongest in the kingdom in order to be recognized as magic emperor. That is why when he heard of multiple people could challenge Shirou he got excited, only to get upset after hearing that only those who lost their fights could challenge him.

That was probably the first time in his life that he regretted winning at anything, not that he would lose if he could do it again. And so, he was now standing with the rest of the crowd while waiting for the captains to being their selection.

"This concludes the exam. Now candidates whose numbers are called, please step forward." William said.

"The knight captains will raise their hands if they would like you to join their squads. If a candidate is chosen by more than one captain, they may choose which squad they would like to be a part of." Charlotte said.

"BUT, if no one raises their hands, the candidate will not join the magic knights." Fuegoleon added.

"And you shall leave immediately." Nozel finished.

With this, the mood of everyone in the Colosseum got quite somber as the selection began.

"#1, step forward." The announcer said, and as a man walked forward no captain raised their hand. "No offers."

"#2, step forward." The announcer said, and as another person walked forward no captain raised their hand. "No offers."

.

.

.

"#71, step forward." The announcer said, the mood of all those who competed sour as they still haven't seen even a single person pass the test. However, for the first time, a captain raised his hand. "#71, Purple Orcas."

Seeing someone finally pass was a relief to them all. After that, a few other candidates were accepted into other squads, but there were still more that were not accepted, causing a lot of people to actually cry in despair, which made the others that were waiting even more nervous. This was even more so for Asta who, in spite of his performance during the combat portion of the exam, failed miserably in everything else.

Eventually, the time finally came for Yuno to be called.

"#164, step forward." Yuno walked forward while everyone else paid close attention. Out of all the other candidates, he was the only one that came close to matching the prince in every test, so it was obvious that he would likely get the attention of a few captains.

As he stopped before the captains, a few tense seconds passed before they all raised their hands.

As Asta saw this, he could not help but feel awed by his rival's potential. It was almost unheard of of for any candidate, let alone a commoner, to receive offers from all nine captains. Rather than feel intimidated, it only served to further increase Asta's motivation since he knew that he was just as good as Yuno and one day would become the magic emperor.

Yuno saw this situation and wondered which squad he should enter. He wanted to challenge Shirou immensely, to go further than anyone else in his generation, and as such wanted to be in the same squad as him. But, as he was going first he had to think which squad he would enter. If Shirou's goals were the same as his and he also wanted to become magic emperor, he would no doubt choose the squad that gave him the best chance. Also, Yuno wanted to go further than everyone else and for that, the option he should go with was quite obvious.

"I choose Golden Dawn." Yuno said, effectively confirming his acceptance as the newest member of Golden Dawn.

"#165, step forward." as Asta heard this he felt invigorated, this was his chance to prove that he was no worse than Yun- "No offers."

It was as if the world turned gray in front of Asta's eyes, as if everything just got lifeless and static.

No offers.

Those two words echoed inside his head, but-

"Not yet... I am not done yet!" he said, even as people jeered him, offended him, and told him how he never stood a chance at becoming a magic knight.

"Well, that is no surprise." A voice said in the captain's area. Everyone looked up to see that Yami was standing up from his seat and looking down at Asta.

"No matter how high your combat abilities may be, if the source of your powers is unknown then no one will want anything to do with you. In the end, the only thing that truly matters to become a magic knight is their magic energy." As he said that he started to release an enormous amount of magic power, which felt to everyone as though giant weight had been put on their backs.

The energy released was more than what most of them have ever felt. The candidates all clearly felt the sheer difference in power and output that Yami was releasing.

Yami then surprised everyone by jumping onto the field, adding even more pressure on the candidates as they struggled to remain standing in Yami's overwhelming presence, especially Asta who was standing directly in front of him.

"And since you have no magic power no one wants you. That is the cruel reality. You said earlier that you would become the magic emperor, didn't you? Which means you are going to surpass all nine captains here, right? Now that I am standing before you, do you still have the nerve to say that you are going to become magic emperor, even without any magic?" Yami said, releasing more magic and adding onto the pressure as Asta released more and more sweat as he looked down.

"E-Even if I can't join the magic knight squads today, no matter how many times I fail, no matter what anyone says to me, I'M STILL GOING TO BECOME MAGIC EMPEROR ONE DAY!" Despite the sheer difference in power and how he behaved when he first felt the pressure, his final words showed clear decisiveness. He would not hesitate in the slightest.

The stare down continued for a few more seconds before Yami ended up exploding in laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, You're a funny one kid. Join my squad."

"Huh?"

"I am telling you that I will let you join my Black Bulls." Yami said, before turning to look at the prince and everyone else and said. "And those I invite from this point on have zero options, it is either be in my squad or die."

"HEY! Don't go making rules like that! When Shirou chooses our Blue Roses you can't act against him, or I will show you why Berserker is the strongest!" Illiya yelled from behind her captain.

"Yeah, he will be the squad's mascot, right Nee-san?" Sol said.

"Call me captain while we are in public Sol."

"Understood, Nee-san."

The other captains were reacting in a similar manner. The pressure in the arena only grew exponentially worse as Yami stood up to Nozel, Fuegoleon, and Jack, the latter of whom just wanted a good old session of 'let's kill each other'.

Shirou could only watch on and exhale a sigh of exhaustion. He knew things would end up like this and it was a crystal clear to him that things were not going to end well at all.

In the end, Julius intervened to calm everyone down, the next entry was then called.

"#166, step forward." And so a very, VERY nervous Sekke Bronzazza stepped forward. He did decently well during most of the exam but he knew it was far from as good as he should have been to guarantee the position he wanted. At this point, the worst things that could happen was that he either was not accepted or became a member of Green Mantis or Black Bulls.

As he stepped forward, the worst possible outcome happened.

"Daddy", Jack looked down to his daughter who was tugging his sleeve, "We want him as our new toy." Jackeline said to her father with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Are you sure? He doesn't seem strong enough to be able to help you practice with your daggers. Why keep him if he can't put up a fight ?" Jack said, showing his disdain for anyone who isn't a good fighter, and only liked those that were deserving of being cut down, much like how he wanted to cut down Yami.

"We are sure daddy. He is weak but he makes a funny face when he is afraid and making him show that face can make everyone back home happy." Jackeline said as she imagined in her head, which came out as childish doodles, the different ways of how she could torment the young man.

Jack grinned down as he laughed at her reasoning. He was often quite doting of this little killing machine that he adopted a few years back as she was the only child he had ever seen that was not afraid of him, despite having witnessed his brutal fighting style and admired him for it. In fact, when she got close to him the first time, she actually tried to cut HIM down.

In all of his long and twisted life, Jack had never felt more proud of anyone than at that moment. Since then, he took her in as his daughter, carrying her with him everywhere he goes, all while training her to master her magic, which was already quite deadly.

With a wicked smile, he too started to imagine what his daughter was planning. Thus, he accepted Sekke into his squad, whose days of terror had only just begun. The fact Zeke felt an instinct of imminent death at that moment was just a proof that his instincts were sharper than he would likely admit.

After that, the entries continued and by the end the last person to remain was Shirou.

"#221, step forward." Shirou prepared to move forward to stand before the captains, but before he could take a single step, something unexpected happened. A wave of mercury covered him and started taking him away.

"It's done. The prince has decided to enters my squad to prove royalty's superiority. End of discussion." Nozel said imperiously and already turning around as if it was just natural. However, before he had a chance to leave, the mercury around Shirou was melted away by a wave of fire.

"Nonsense, he is entering my squad and there is no questioning that." Fuegoleon said with authority as he stood up to face Nozel. The two were glaring at each other while Rill was quietly pointing to himself and silently wording to Shirou: 'Come with my squad, it will be fun'.

From there, the chaotic situation only got worse as Illiya and Sol also got involved, making this complicated situation even worse. Illiya produced one Berserker that looked suspiciously like a young girl wearing a wedding dress with a horn on her head carrying a mace. She pounced at Shirou, who blinked in confusion as she caught him bridal style, followed closely by a giant stone golem as they attempted to leave the stage.

This was soon followed by Jackeline bugging her daddy that she wanted the sword guy too, forcing Jack to take action and use his severing magic to cut down the rock giant and almost cut through Illiya's Berserker construct. Thankfully, he was stopped by a wall of thorns, courtesy of Charlotte who moved to ensure that Jack would not get hold of Shirou (she wanted to help her squad and she wasn't exactly happy with Jack since he occupied all the time she wanted to spend with Yami with fighting).

Of course, since Yami saw this he only smirked and said to Finral he wanted him to catch the grand prize. For any one else it might appear to be a spur of the moment thing, but this was all planned since Shirou was one of the very few people he knew who was worse in poker than himself, making him an ideal source of income as far as Yami was concerned.

Of course, Finral did NOT want to get involved, but when Yami turned to him with an 'I'll kill you if you don't' look, it did not leave Finral with many options.

And so, chaos reigned as everyone turned against everyone. The only ones who were not involved were the Purple Orca's, Coral Peacock's, and the Golden Dawn as none of them were really interested in trying to force Shirou into their squads. The sight of the Golden Dawn not entering the chaotic battle was surprising for many of the candidates, as they believed that the Golden Dawn had a very high chance of getting Shirou. While William may have been entertained the idea of adding Shirou to his ranks, there was a voice in the back of his mind nagging him not to. Plus not to mention that his vice-captain was Langris, he decided to drop the matter for the time being.

In the end, after almost 5 minutes of chaos, the Magic Emperor ordered everyone to stop, and had to personally get involved to calm everyone down.

"Shirou-sama, I am sorry but could you choose which squad you would like to enter already? It is hard to keep everyone calm like this." Julius said while smiling tiredly.

Shirou nodded as he prepared to make his decision. He had spent a long time learning about each squad while growing up and knew their current leaders well. He did not want to make any of them sad or disappointed with him since, most of them were his friends and others were literally family to him. In the end, he had decided that if he had to choose, there is only one option.

Just one squad would ever be crazy enough to let him go on missions without an escort and would not try to control his movements, especially during his days off, and also allow him to move across vast distances without wasting time and ensure that he would be as free as possible.

"I choose Black Bulls." Shirou said loudly for everyone to hear. The entire arena fell silent, with the only sound being Yami whooping for joy and yelling out, "YES, EXTRA MONEY AND A NEW COOK HERE WE COME!"

...Yeah, this may not have been the best idea. Oh well, in case of doubt he would just do as he always did when things end up like this and blame it all on Archer and his E Rank luck.

* * *

 **Writer Note:**

 **Wow, 13k is WAY too much. I never did a chapter this big before and I am not sure I plan on doing another one of this size either. Iintroduced a special character in the form of Jackelyn The Reapper, my own spin of Jack The Ripper from FGO, as the adopted daughter of Captain Jack the Reapper.**

 **Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I am also making a cross-over between Yugioh and Soul land in where Seto Kaiba is reborn as the son of Bibi Dong and Grandmaster, it is interesting and if ANYONE wants to be a beta for that one I would really appreciate it.**

 **And here are the weapon description for the ones used this time around:**

 _._

 _Sea Goddess Trident **Noelle:**_

 _Rank A_

 _Anti-army and anti-unity_

It is an intricate and well-designed trident made of a mix of metal and super condensed water. It can change in size and weight depending on the amount of energy and control of the user, the limit is it is 5 meters tall and the maximum weight is 10 tons, the size and weight are not directly connected so it is possible to have a 10 tons Trident with the size of a simple wand.

It gives the user the ability of controlling water in the air and ambient and if the user is a water mage he can control the water with a tenth of the normal work others would have and the amount of magic energy spent by using this trident as a wand is decreased by half while increasing in power by 200%. It has the property of being able to change its form to look like a water dome to protect those around by the expense of not being able to use the trident.

.

\- _Prideful Lion Spear **Fuegoleon**_

 _Rank A_

 _Anti-unity_

This spear has the ability to generate lasers from its tip, it is capable of either focusing this laser in the blade to increase the cutting ability of the spear or launch it to perforate whatever is in front of it. It is the weapon in Shirou's arsenal of 'Weapon Creation' that has the highest piercing ability and cutting edge of them all.

It has also the ability to restrict someone if it touches the ground by launching flames claws from the ground, but its restrictive abilities are not particularly high. A weapon truly made for combat.

.

 _Berserk Hammer **Illya**_

 _Rank B+_

 _Anti-unity_

A hammer that looks like something only a sadistic barbarian would ever use, it has the properties of increasing the physical strength of whoever is using it as well as disrupting any form of defensive magic that touches it making it go berserk and lose consistency. It is a weapon designed to face strongly defensive people one-on-one.

It has a function that allows for the user to leave the hammer on the ground and any and all magics that enter a 25 meters of it will go berserk and get out of the control of the user.

.

 _Evil Poison Cape **Gordon**_

 _Rank B_

 _Anti-Army_

A cape much similar to the one used by a vampire in old stories it has the ability to launch poison and cursed magic at the enemies on high speeds. It is possible to launch a wave of poison bullets so big that it can kill hundreds at one moment, a devastating weapon.

However, its true main function for Shirou is how it can be used to erase his presence when in the dark. Neither Ki nor Magic Energy can be felt from the person covered by it when in the darkness, a great weapon to hide away from danger or sneak inside guarded places.

.

 _Short Flaming Spear of the Great **Leopold** _

_Rank B_

 _Anti-army_

A spear that is quite similar to Prideful Flamin Spear Fuegoleon, the key difference in appearance is its size in that it is only about 1,1 meters tall. It also is a fire-related spear, but this one is not capable of focusing the fire in a small area, instead it can release extremely hot flames with every move of the spear, thus burning everything around.

It can also create a fire rope that can be used to tie up enemies and if they disobey punish them accordingly.

.

 **It is easy to see that Shirou was holding back a LOT in this fight since he did not want to hurt others, otherwise these weapons could have killed every enemy quite quickly if he desired so.**

 **Anyway, leave a review and don't forget to Like and Favorite this storry too.**


	10. News

This may be confusing some of you guys as readers, so I will spell it out for you.

I took down the pool and warning since I already got the results, but I posted the next chapter already as well so go and check it out.

This message will be removed in the next 24 hours.

Also, the winners are Mordred, Tamano, Illya, and Jeanne. Sakura got close but did not make the cut, sorry Sakura fans but she won't be in it.


	11. Chapter 10

Shortly after I announced my decision, to say that chaos reigned would be an understatement. It was like everyone wanted to talk at the same time and I could swear that a fight would break out any second now.

It took a hell of a long time to calm everyone down. It was honestly terrible. Right now, I am waiting for Finral to teleport me to the Black Bulls base as I hid away in a corner in an attempt to hide my location from everyone. If anyone were to find me, I just know things will go south way too fast.

Suddenly, I picked up the sound of people talking close by. In a flash, I quickly summoned Evil Poison Cape Gordon. Even though the cloak was already hiding my presence, I still stayed quiet and slowed down my breathing as I eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Asta."

"Yuno! You are golden! I am a bull! This is where our fight begins, right?!"

"Yes, let's see who amongst the two of us is the be-"

GGRRRROOWWWLLLLL

And just like that, the moment was ruined as Asta took off while holding his belly. From what I could deduce, it was most likely that he had probably eaten something he shouldn't have. Reminder to self, try and make him something that will help to calm down Asta's stomach when we get to the base.

I took a quick look around my surroundings, making sure that there is no one else around. I knew that I may be doing something I shouldn't, but I can see that Yuno is a nice kid and he has the right drive to become a magic knight. His presence alone will be enough to help save so a lot of people. So I decided that giving him a little help is not a bad idea.

Without making a sound, I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. Yuno quickly turned around to face me with a serious expression on his face, and his grimoire at the ready to fight if needed. I smiled impressed at his instincts.

"Yo, everything alright?" I said, trying to act in a relaxed manner hoping that this would ease the tension and get him to relax.

It did not quite work. He was still is glaring at me and while I don't feel any malicious intent, I can practically taste his desire for battle from the aura he is releasing. The only times I felt anything like that was when Luvia and Rin were close to each other, and that is never a good thing.

"Why didn't you join the Golden Dawn? I heard people talking and that should have been the obvious choice for you. So why go to the Black Bulls?" He asked, clearly not understanding my actions.

I guess that to most people that don't know me, my decision doesn't make sense. Honestly, it is not that hard to understand if you ask me.

"Because the Black Bulls fit my objectives better. You see, I want to save as many people as I possibly can and the Golden Dawn is a squad with some of the highest concentration of people with Royal blood and high nobility. They are too tied down by things like tradition, lineage or wealth. It would be hard for me to move for even the more simple requests that fall in line with my objectives. Instead, I would be forced to take care of more 'important' missions, such as escorting nobles or something like that and that is something I don't have any interest in. I would rather be deployed to help people without having to worry about trivial limitations and considering the Black Bull's captain is someone I know really well, he will let me do it."

It was just a simple fact really. Out of all the squads, the only ones I would want to enter are either the Black Bulls or the Coral Peacocks since both have captains that would let me do as I please and give me the freedom that I want... Unfortunately, the Coral Peacock's had Kirsch and that is enough for me to choose another squad with no hesitation.

I have a limit to how much bullshit I can hear at once. Something I learned while being around Shinji in my last life, and Kirsch's idolization of himself definitely comes close to it.

"... I am afraid I still don't understand. Being the strongest is what's most important, so why go for the weakest squad? I do not understand."

Sigh, he is too innocent. It is like his mind developed with the single mindset that pushes winning to the forefront of his thoughts and going against that is impossible for him. Well, not like I can argue against him considering that I too have a single-minded obsession when it comes to my desire to help people. So I guess that for the two of us, we are not exactly quite right in the head.

"Well, maybe living and meeting different people will help to expand your view of the world. Besides, not everything about Golden Dawn is bad. I have two friends there that could probably help you. They are Mimosa Vermillion, a sweet girl that will likely be a good friend to you." Yuno blinked as Shirou suddenly placed a tight grip on his shoulders, "but if you hurt her I WILL hunt you down with extreme prejudice and a high chance of having you resting in literal pieces." as I said this, Yuno could not help but feel nervous of the sinister aura I released whilst uttering my threat should he hurt Mimosa.

"There is also Klaus Lunettes. He is somewhat hard to get along with at first, but once he comes around to you and starts to respect you, there is no one else I know that is more reliable. Both will not judge you for your birth nearly as much as the others, so if possible try and get along with them. However..."

Yuno blinked once he saw that my expression became serious.

"... you would do well in trying to avoid the vice-captain Langris. I know I should not be objective, but in all honesty, Langris is a brat with too much power and a superiority complex that doesn't match him as a person at all. He is very much likely to kill anyone who irritates him or gets in his way. If you were to get to close to his line of fire during a mission, there is a very real possibility that he WILL kill you without a shred of remorse. Also, be cautious of the Golden Dawn's captain, William Vangeance. I don't know why, but there is something off about him that puts me on edge." I said before hearing footsteps approaching from somewhere else. No way am I going to stay here and risk getting caught and likely kidnapped by one of the other squads.

Without giving time to Yuno say anything else I covered myself in my cape before running to a dark corner and started to look for Finral or the other Black Bull members, but ended up seeing the guy who I think did relatively well during my fight, the one who lasted the longest, currently trying to prepare some kind of spell to attack where I believe Asta is, if the sounds of someone complaining about some weird food while 'taking a dump' as Yami would so eloquently say.

As I was about to move in and stop it, someone jumped onto Sekke's back. It was a little girl with short white hair and two scars on her face. I believe her name was Jackeline or something like that.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Are you so bored that you want to play with others?" She asked sweetly, but I swear that looking at her freaked me out way too much. It was a smile I was all too familiar with, having seen the same smile on Illya several times.

"Ah, ehh?! I-I wasn't really about to do anything." He said, his sweat running down his face.

"Oh, then it is fine." She said, making him feel relieved, for a second at least. "So we can go and play right now. Daddy taught us a new killing technique and we wanted someone just like you to see how well it goes. Your defense magic is decent and your luck is excellent, so there is a good enough chance of you surviving."

"Oh, no, no, no! You see I have something I must do right now and-"

"It is either practicing with us or exploring a high-level dungeon by yourself." She said, and just like that Sekke was defeated and made the wise decision to accompany and obey his superior.

I could only shake my head as I watched the poor guy getting dragged on the ground by the little girl with little to no effort on her part. Even though it felt like he was like seeing someone about to go to his execution, I didn't really feel much of a desire to go help him. He was clearly looking to cause trouble, so the way I see it, this was just karma paying him back. Besides, something tells me that he will not die anyway so I doubt there is any need for me to worry about him.

As things calmed down, I realized that it was about time for me to carefully make my way back outside, but I did plant one of the Throwing Knives Finral into a corner of the stadium as a precaution since there is always the chance someone may try to come to me with a heated head.

Getting out, I saw Yami standing there with an irritated look on his face as he opened his mouth.

"YOU'RE LATE! I have been waiting for too freaking long, you want to die?"

"No need to worry, captain. I don't plan on dying so young. I was just trying to avoid getting captured by certain people who are desperately trying to recruit me into their respective squads." I said with a sly smirk.

"Tch, don't give me that crap. I've already had to hear that annoying Ball o' Pride and the Hot-Blooded King of Seriousness both telling me to always make sure you are alright, have escorts, eat three meals a day, have enough rest days, not to go on hard missions, bla, bla, bla. They are acting like freaking mother hens for God's sake. The worse part is that they talked so much that I couldn't go and take the dump I wanted. So annoying! You'd better be worth it, brat." Yami said while sounding irritated, but I could tell it was his way of saying that he has high expectations of me.

"Now, where is the shrimp?"

As if on cue Asta ran up from out of the halls of the stadium with a happy expression on his face, while rubbing his belly looking very satisfied with himself, which instantly made Yami even more pissed.

"You've got some nerve making me wait! How long does it even take you to take a dump?" Yami asked while cracking his fists.

"Actually, it was really something! It was this long and hug-"

Asta never even had time to finish as Yami grabbed his head and raised his entire body up from the ground.

"That is not what I meant! Who asked you to start talking about your turds, you moron!?" While saying that he turned to Finral while still keeping a firm grip over Asta's head, ignoring the latter's cries of pain. "Let's go Finral."

"Right-o." He said while opening his grimoire to use his magic.

With a wave of his hand, a spatial portal appeared in mid-air, connecting to where the Black Bulls base was located.

"Wow! What is that?" Asta asked surprised.

"Since you can't fly using magic brat, you are going to have to learn some other type of magic transportation technique. Oh wait, you don't have magical powers! Hahahaha." Yami said to 'answer'/insult Asta. If it was someone else I would try to stop it, but I know Yami is just being mean-spirited for the sake of being mean-spirited and doesn't mean anything bad by it.

However, I noticed that Finral was straining himself while keeping the portal open, which is understandable as it is a big portal and the distance to the base was quite far. He has plenty of energy to keep it open but that doesn't mean it is easy on his reserves.

"Could we hurry it along, please? Keeping a portal this big open to our destination isn't easy." Finral said, only for Yami to look at him threateningly as he answered.

"Who do you think you are trying to order around? Tough it out and surpass your limits, or I will kill you."

"Whaaa?" Finral mouthed while covered in cold sweat.

At least Yami did not make things worse for Finral, and only him since he threw Asta head first through the portal.

He was about to turn to me, but I'd rather not have to go through the 'exotic' experience that Asta had to so I simply dashed to the portal before he could catch me.

No matter how many times I have experienced it, I can't help the feeling of amazement that goes through me every time I walk through one of Finral's portals. It was simply surreal how useful this ability really is. We passed more than 200 kilometers instantly without any complications. Simply remembering how much this could have helped me during my previous life and how it will help me in my current one, I can only say that I am thankful that Finral is my friend.

As I left the portal, I turned around to observe our new surroundings, as Asta and I are now in the middle of a forest. I blinked in surprise as I felt an even bigger concentration of mana here than back in the capital. However, it was not as significant so it must be natural instead of something intentional. We also noticed a big building that resembled a bunch of large cubes mashed together, with plenty of magic energy inside and traveling throughout the building itself. From what I can smell, it is either made of a special substance or there is some strong magic involved there.

As these thoughts passed through my head, I saw Asta's eyes sparkling as Yami and the others passed through the portal.

"This is the Black Bulls'-" Asta started saying just as Yami decided to intervene.

"What do you think? Pretty amazing, right brat, prince brat?" Yami said while admiring his base. I got to admit, this is not a bad location overall. While it is not close to the capital or anywhere fancy, its location is pretty ideal considering that the surrounding area is easy to guard in the event of an attack.

Now that I pay more attention there are also a few magic and detection traps scattered all over the place. Getting in here with no preparation may easily end in disaster for the enemy. Even if the enemy was a group of highly trained assassins, there is no way to infiltrate the base without being detected. Whoever it is amongst the Black Bulls that is responsible for setting these traps, they must be quite good at what they do.

"ALRIGHT, I WILL DO MY BEST!" Asta yelled again, making me wonder if he isn't actually capable of sound magic due to how absurdly loud he is. He then turned to me and said. "Let's go Emiya! Starting today we are both magic knights and we will each do our best to be number one! I WILL BE THE MAGIC EMPEROR!" He then caught my hand and started dragging me with all his strength towards the door of the building.

All of a sudden, I got a bad feeling as we got close to the base's main entrance. It was like the instincts I got during my previous life and the crazy training sessions during this life (I still don't see the point of why I keep creating B Rank noble phantasms one after the other until I pass out just for me to do it again is that great of a help. Even though finding out by accident that the method I used to create magic circuits before meeting Tohsaka is not that terrible here due to my self-healing being just absurd and allowing me to grow more magic circuits while still keeping a perfectly healthy body is possible. Even though it hurts way too much to do it all the time) warned me that I should evade now, so without waiting for Asta, I jumped to the side just as he opened the door and a fire blast hit him head-on.

Looking inside I saw that the whole place in a state that could only be classified as chaotic. There was a drunk woman wearing only her underwear complaining while two guys (who I kind of recognize him from that magic knight selection exam from three years ago) were wrecking the place to the ground while screaming something about pudding. There is also a fat guy that smells very funny (maybe he is using his magic right now, but I am not 100% sure) doing a weird thing as he exhales smoke from his mouth. I saw that Charmy was in the corner stuffing her face with food (which is really what she almost always does), and a pervert looking at a little girl sleeping through a mirror. The fact that he was having a nosebleed while looking at the said girl, made me want to hit him for creeping on her.

Overall, the chaotic scene in front of me was about as bad as the rumors regarding this squad say, but then again it does not really surprise me.

Despite taking the full brunt of the explosion, Asta managed to stand up again and tried to introduce himself again. However, is attempt was once more thwarted as I was forced to dodge another attack from the fire guy (the one with a delinquent look) which ended up hitting Asta again.

Despite the scene in front of me, I could not help but feel happy. I know it is a somewhat terrible thing for me to say, but I feel so happy seeing this. As crazy as it sounds, the sight before me is proof that I am not alone in this world... that there is actually another person who has an E rank luck!

Putting a hand on his shoulder I look at Asta and give him a thumbs up.

It was then that Yami walks in and sees the destruction caused by the members of his squad as the whole place looked like it was one step away from falling on top of everyone's heads. I then turned towards Yami as his magic energy started rising, becoming thicker and more menacing with each passing second.

"All of you..." Yami said while pouring a whole lot of energy into his fist. I quickly took a step back as he used said fist to backhand the wall. "Stop breaking everything!" He yelled slamming his fist into the wall causing the entire structure to explode.

'Sigh', in the end, it seems that Yami was the one who caused the most destruction.

I don't know what to say. His powers are definitely higher than mine if he can do this much. However, the most amazing thing is that every member wasn't scared by his demonstration of power. Instead, they jumped out of happiness towards him. Everyone was talking at the same time and I could swear that the delinquent offered to go and beat up people if they irritated Yami. If Nozel or Fuegoleon were here, they would not doubt tell me that I should watch out for him since he seems like the violent type. However, after years of living under the watch of Taiga and having to help out the yakuza members of the Fujiura clan, I can easily say that I have a few ideas on how to get along with him.

The others were quite colorful as well, and the more I was around them, the more I am sure that this squad is practically a close-knit family.

"I see, so you guys love me that much?" He said happily before his face darkened as he looked as if he was one step away from killing them as he said. "But you need to shut up."

And just like that everyone that was causing a riot sat down in seiza positions, with poor Asta being sat on by the fat guy.

"I brought two new members in... Where is the shrimp?" Yami asked.

"He is over there, under Grey." Finral pointed out, while Asta, who was being suffocated under Grey, was starting to turn blue.

"Hoh, why are you fooling around over there? Do you want to waste my time? Cause I will kill you." Yami said as Grey stood up enough for Asta to crawl out of from underneath his butt.

He then stood up beside me as Yami resumed his speech.

"As I was saying, I brought two new members besides the other one, the shrimp and the cooking wallet. Introduce yourselves."

"Other one?" Asta asked, before deciding to address that bit of information for later before he continued. " I'm Asta from Hage Village! My dream is to become the next magic emperor and to marry sister Lily! It is nice to meet you all!"

I could not help but give a light laugh at what he said. He is truly honest to a fault. Oh well, I guess it is my turn.

"My name is Shirou, Shirou Kira Clover I. I am the royal prince but please don't think too much about it. At the moment, I am a new magic knight recruit and as such, I have much to learn, please look after me. If there is anything you guys need please don't hesitate to tell me."

"Meal making prince, you came for me!" Shirou was surprised as Charmy appeared out of nowhere and hugged my leg. When she realized what she did, Charmy's face turned red up to her ears and retreated back to her former position, slightly embarrassed for her bold actions. I could only chuckle seeing her flustered expression, before patting her head. She might be a bit older than me, but I sure don't feel that way around her.

Afterward, Finral introduced everyone. Out of everyone here, the strangest one ended up being the guy that was looking at the little girl sleeping named Gauche Adlei. Apparently, the little girl is his younger sister, and Gauche kept repeating that if anyone even got close to her he would kill them. There is also a little blond guy by the name of Luck Voltia who challenged Asta and me to a fight to the death the first chance he got. Somehow, I got a feeling similar to when Lancer came after me.

Next was Vanessa Enoteca. She is an older, and very attractive woman in her twenties, that was trying to act seductive and flirty. Although, I could tell that it was all just for show, since I don't really feel an actual lustful intent coming from her. It was a little something I picked up while learning how to read ki from Yami. unfortunately, her image was broken once she started throwing up onto Asta's shoes.

Once again, I am so glad about my choice in this squad. I have truly found someone else that has worse luck than my own. Now not every moment of misfortune will come for me!

"Anyway, cook, go and make us all a meal while taking the brat out for his baptism." Yami said, and before I could say anything a portal opened while Finral mouthed an 'I am sorry' before Yami pushed me through the portal and I ended up inside a kitchen.

Okay, not my first thought about what would happen when I got to the Black Bulls base, but it could be worse I suppose. Besides, looking around this place and in the fridge, there are a whole lot of utensils and ingredients for me to work with and no one to intervene and tell me not to cook or try to hurry me out of the kitchen. I have this whole place to myself, and I am going to enjoy it to the fullest.

* * *

After about forty-five minutes, I finally finished preparing food for everyone. It was a wonderful feeling to work and prepare food whenever I wanted. I was so caught up in the moment, that I did not even notice a certain silver haired girl entering the kitchen. I only noticed her when she tried to get a taste of a dessert I was making before it was ready, earning her a light smack on her hand with a cooking spoon.

"Meanie." Noelle said while rubbing her fingers.

"I will not let you take any of it before it is all done. If you want you, can help me with some of the dishes, I do need a taste tester." I said with a small smile.

"Hum, if you need my help that much then I suppose I can help you as a fellow member of royalty." She said haughtily, but I could see that her eyes were already looking at the desert that I am preparing. A vanilla pudding filled with chocolate chips, her favorite.

She has been through a lot, so spoiling her is not that bad. Besides I am pretty much the only one who does that so I always take the extra step to try and keep her happy. Speaking of which I must remember to ask Finral to open a portal to the capital tomorrow since I am preparing cookies as well and I know they are Mimosa's and Illya's favorites and both Golden Dawn and Blue Rose's bases are in the capital.

Anyway, I continued cooking as Noelle and I talked. She gave me a few comments about the food and according to her everything was great the way I did it so I was relieved. I asked if she wanted to eat with everyone but she said she was tired and wanted to go to sleep, which I nodded in understanding. Today must have been a very stressful day for her, so her desire to go to sleep early was to be expected.

With a happy face and with the food ready I started taking it all to the mess hall (just now I realized that Noelle 'ran away' before she could help me put the dishes on the table. She really is too lazy when it comes to this type of basic work), and soon after everyone else entered with smiles on their faces and talking with Asta happily. I guess he had successfully managed to get himself accepted among the Black Bulls. However, it was clear that most of the others were not used to me here, which is understandable considering my current position and all that.

I smiled at everyone before speaking.

"I hope everyone is hungry. I went an extra step in making this so I hope you guys will enjoy it." I said smiling at the surprised expressions of several members as they laid their eyes on the spread before them. While there were a few members that were a bit hesitant to try the food I made, their attitudes did a complete one eighty the moment they swallowed their first bite. From then on, everyone started eating as if they had nothing to eat for the last week.

As I saw them eating with gusto Vanessa stopped for a second and said.

"Oh my, if I am going to eat like that from now on I am sure to get fat."

"No need to worry about that. Everything you see here is low fat, and it is all very healthy for the body so it is much more likely for you to get healthier and even more beautiful from eating my food, instead of gaining weight." I said and she started eating again, or tried to since Charmy had snatched the chicken meat that was o her plate and ate it whole.

Before Vanessa could start a riot, I quickly put a new piece of chicken on her plate with some unique seasonings to make her content again. I ended up helping everyone a bit and did not stop to eat myself, but it is fine. Seeing everyone enjoying my food is enough satisfaction for me.

After the meal, I gave Yami a small package filled with an assortment of beer snacks which he quickly started eating together with some artisanal beer. I started talking with everyone when a leg hit the table with a whole lot of strength.

"Okay, you can cook alright, but you still are not a member of the Black Bulls! If you want to be one of us, you're gonna have to pass our initiation first." Magna said while pointing straight at my face.

Oh, I remember that. Finral told me that this is something every new member has to go through, but from what he explained of the test I am not worried.

"Okay, what is the test?" I said, compared to the 'tests' Julius used to put me through I doubt anything bellow fighting Yami or three or more members including Finral could amount to a challenge.

"Simple you have to-"

"Fight to the death with me! Come on, come on! Let's fight." Magna was about to talk only for Luck to intervene.

He is all pumped up, and I got to admit that his energy is quite amazing and from what I saw earlier, his reflexes are no laughing matter either. Fighting him will be a good way to keep me sharp and also bond a bit more with the other members. So as long as it is not actually a fight to the death then everything should be fine.

"Sure, we can spar for a bit, let's just try to avoid making it a fight to the death okay?" I said, and his shoulders dropped a bit when he heard the last part.

Is he really lancer's reincarnation? I mean, how can two different people like fighting that much anyway?

Anyways, both I and Luck went out of the building. Mostly because Yami glared at us and said that we are not to destroy anything else in the base. I was honestly fine with that since this leaves me with a whole lot more options in terms of my fighting style, while Luck was pouting the whole way.

Magna was to be the judge of our spare since Yami was inside chilling while drinking his beer.

"Ready... GO!"

As Magna said that Luck activated his magic. A pair of boots and gloves covered his feet and hands and before I knew it, he was within striking distance of me. His speed impressed me as it surpassed my own while using reinforcement. Luckily, I know a great way to deal with fast opponents. This weapon might not be legendary by any means, but considering that it is in my reality marble it still barely counts and its cost efficiency is great so I quickly created them.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation: Holy Sacraments **Black Keys**_.", As I finished my incantation, a set of six Black Keys appeared in my hands between my fingers.

Reinforcing my eyes, I took great care to see where Luck was going before he unleashed a powerful straight hook to my left side. I quickly turned my left hand holding three Black Keys to his direction while feeding them mana to make them grow larger, effectively serving as a shield to block his attack.

It was effective in stopping his attack by less than a second, but that was all I needed as I set one Black Key above myself, where it quickly fell down and hit Luck's shadow, paralyzing him.

"Ara ara, this will not be enough at all." He said, his smile still present despite his paralysis. Without warning, Luck released a whole lot more electrical energy around himself, allowing him to break the Black Key holding his shadow.

All right, that was a bit unexpected, but nothing I couldn't deal with. This time I feel that there is only one right weapon for me to use as I set the other two remaining Black Keys and launched them at the expected path where Luck would go to. Even as he avoided those, I had already started creating my favorite weapons.

If those from Weapon Creation are related to my friends, then this one is related to myself.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation: Married Blades **Kanshou and Bakuya**_." As I said that my beloved twin swords entered my hands again. I quickly entered in an all too familiar position using the blades, but with a few slight differences than the one EMIYA used.

His stance left many lethal points open for the enemy to exploit, but mine left much fewer as the rest looked very well protected and to anyone not truly in the know about this style, they'd never understand that there are basically no blind spots on me right now. Uniting my classic suicidal style with the one created in this world (this time I had teachers that actually had the time and willingness to teach me. Saber had only been with me for a few short days. Taiga is Taiga and as such was not fit to teach physical things as she just beats others, and Archer's whole life has been about improvising and the style I got from him is basically that). I now have a much better grasp on how to use a sword to its full advantage.

My style remains highly defensive and focused on counters, but now my defenses using my twin blades is as tight as it could possibly be. This fact was quickly proven when Luck jumped back and started throwing lightning blasts at me and I defended against them all without having to take a single step.

I keep cutting down dozens of attacks before I decide that enough was enough and threw both of my blades at him, which he promptly avoided by jumping back, just as I made another Kanshou and Bakuya and ran to him while he was in mid-air.

"THIS IS FUN!" He yelled as he transferred more electricity into his boots before launching himself while in mid-air towards me. I barely managed to react in time to redirect his attack to the side before launching an attack of my own towards him.

I managed to cut deep into his right arm even as he evaded, but I did not let up as I created more Black Keys and set them to attack him. This method is not the fastest or the simplest, but there are advantages to it. Upon hitting the ground in front of Luck, the Keys grew to a large enough to stop him in his tracks.

Although it was only for an instant as Luck punched through the steel wall in front of him, it was all I needed to put my plan into effect. I trapped him in place and obstructed his enough of his vision to prevent him from noticing my previous Kanshou and Bakuya flying right at him. He did not notice the blades until the very last second, but he still managed to put up a defense by using his lightning covered arms. As the smoke cleared, I could see that Luck had suffered damage, but he could still fight and his speed remained unchanged. He truly is a talented guy, but the way he smiles while looking at me is slightly disconcerting.

Not letting up, he turned in my direction and started kicking, releasing bursts of electricity at me with every kick. It was hard defending myself, but I managed it somehow due to my use of Kanshou and Bakuya. However, as I was defending I failed to notice that he put both hands behind him and despite the damage he had suffered, he was still smiling as he released a burst of mana and used his hands to propel himself forward like a rocket, kicking me right in the gut.

Thanks to the reinforcement in my body the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been and with Avalon's help the burn marks were healed almost instantly. Although, it still winded me out enough for him to start a flurry of attacks at close distance from which I felt some very strong hits even as I defended against most of them.

Well, if it reaches this point I might as well go further. Calling upon my grimoire, I created a different weapon to help me out of this situation.

 _"Mythical Weapon Creation: Sword of Transcendent Wisdom and Knowledge: **Daishintou**!"_

A golden sword with two tassels appeared in my side, floating there. It is a Nobe Phantasm that originaly belonged to Suzuka Gozen and was an impressive Nobe Phantasm that was highly compatibe with me, scarily so even. While holding Kanshou and Bakuya I activated Daishintou.

"Prepare yourself Luck, this one is even more dangerous than before. _Descend upon us and shower the world in metal, **Daishintou Heavenly Demon Rain**_!"

As I did that I could hear Luck laughing with pure glee as the sword beside me turned from one sword to 250 of them hanging in the sky for a moment before falling on the ground around us.

This Noble Phantasm is somewhat similar to my own Reality Marble when I use it to attack with hundreds of swords at once. That is why I could give more detailed orders to the descending blades ordering them not to hit Luck in any lethal area or remove any limbs from him. He was still laughing even as this descended on me. He managed to break most of the blades and defend himself against most of the barrage, but in the end, he was unable to stop 13 blades from piercing his body as he kept trying to advance towards me. He only managed to give me one more happy laugh before falling to the ground due to blood loss.

Yet despite his wounds, Luck was still crawling on the ground, showing he still wanted to fight. Fuck, he has to be Lancer. No one else in the multi-verse has any right to be anywhere near as crazy and stubborn during a fight. As the others looked in shock I sent Avalon to Luck, considering that he has a bunch of holes in his body. likely a whole lot of bruises as well, and probably internal damage from now and possibly before, this might take a minute to fully heal.

The others decided to approach as the weapons covering the ground disappeared, but before anyone could actually get to me I felt a wave of tiredness. Including my time in the coliseum, I had created way too many weapons today. While I can manage it somehow, it still tires me out somewhat.

"Wow, I never imagined you were so cool! BUT, sister Lily is mine you hear, and I will be the one to become magic emperor!" Asta came yelling and I had to wince as I had a headache from using too much magic and from Asta constantly yelling in my ear. Honestly, it is like Asta and Yuno were the opposites of one another. One was short and loud, while the other was tall and quiet.

Magna went to check on Luck and after making sure he was not in any danger, he turned to me and said.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Sure, give it a minute and he will be back to full health. So? Am I worthy of being a Black Bull now?" I asked a bit cheekily, but with good faith. Magna was the type of person where you need to act with confidence and be a bit cheeky or he will look down on you.

"I would like to say no, considering how you messed up my annoying friend there. On the other hand, you just did something that all Black Bull members do and proved your strength. So I guess I could let you enter if you call me Magna-sempai."

"Yes, Magna-sempai! I am happy to be under your care and for entering the squad, I hope to learn more and more from you in the near future!"

I did not hesitate and called him just that. It is only obvious to call him my sempai (which he really was) so I did not have any problem with that. He scratched his nose with a haughty face as he threw a black coat to me. It isn't anything amazing as it is just normal clothes, but with a bit of time and the right materials, I will make it into a great Mystic Code. I did learn SOMETHING from both Rin and Julius during my times studying under them.

Oh, wait a sec. Why did he say that I did something that all Black Bull members do just now?

I turned around and realized what he was talking about. My little spar with Luck had left the whole area destroyed. There were holes and gashes not just in the ground, but all over the base as well... and Yami is walking towards me with a menacing aura.

"I told everyone not to destroy the building, so why is it that you decided to do just that, brat?" Yami said while closing in. I did have a good explanation for that, but before I could say it the healing for Luck ended and he jumped back up already covered in lightning, yelling 'Let's go at it again, THIS IS FUN!', making it clear that I was not going to have a moment of peace around here.

...Yeah, my luck is still the worse one here.

No. Wait, Asta was in the way between Luck and me so he ended up being hit by Luck's kick before being thrown at me with Luck right behind and laughing with a lightning infused fist at the ready and no indication of who exactly he is aiming at anymore.

I guess I have indeed found myself an amazing companion now... someone who shares my shitty luck.


	12. Chapter 11

After we finished with our initiations, Asta and I were taken to our respective rooms.

It was quite interesting walking inside the Black Bull's base. As we walked I could not help but focus on the walls of the base. The more I focused, the more I could sense some strong magic energy flowing throughout the structure and heading towards a certain location within the building.

I could also feel as we walked that the structure was divided into several 'cubes'. Each one felt slightly different than the other, so it is possible that maybe it was like some type of ritualistic construction? It is worth investigating at a later date. At the moment, though, I was more focused on the division between the rooms. We first stopped by Asta's room. It was small and dusty with only a simple window, a bed, and a small closet. For any normal person, it was quite standard, but to Asta it was his first room where he did not have to share it with someone else.

Magna then went to show me my room since everyone else had either gone to sleep, or went to do something else, or in Gauche's case looking at his little sister.

Creep.

Anyway, my room was on the side where the sun rises, which I noticed was on the opposite side of everyone else and as Magna opened the door I could understand exactly why no one else was on this side of the building.

The whole area up to the horizon was extremely plain and the size and position of the window allowed the sun's rays to reach here as early as possible, making sleeping almost impossible once the sun was up. I also noticed how the room was even more baren than the one Asta had.

It was only a single big window, a closet that looked one tiny step away from breaking, and a bed on the floor that reminded me of a futon.

It was perfect.

I could see Magna smirking, but I am just glad for what he did. I was never really comfortable sleeping in the palace since there was far too many luxuries there. The closets had more clothes that I could ever hope to wear, the bed was far too comfortable, and not too mention that the whole place was so clean that even thinking of cleaning it is absurd. I could not clean my own home due to the excessive amount of maids in there.

However, here among the Black Bulls, I can finally be like myself.

A happy smile appeared on my face as I laid down on my bed. It was the most natural and best sleep I've had in a very LONG time.

* * *

Waking up at the first signs of dawn, I stretched out feeling my bones give off that delightful pop I like so much. Yes, this was indeed the feeling that I have so desperately wanted.

Getting up, I cleaned my futon before walking out of the room. There was a lot to do here and I want to enjoy it all. Going out, I noticed that the walls and some of the structures in the base were slightly different compared to before I fell asleep. Is it possible that this place changes overtime?

It is worth investigating. This unique feature would make navigating within the base more difficult, but this also meant that invaders would have a harder time navigating through the base. It is a double edge sword, but one I'd rather not deal with without reason. At the moment, there was still a lot for me to learn about the base's layout. Right now, I had a matter of even greater importance. Performing the basic chores that this place so desperately needs.

There are spider-webs, cockroaches, and lord knows what else within these walls. A good environment helps people work better so cleaning is of second utmost importance. The number one priority right now is food and third is training if no missions are available.

Thus, I began with the cafeteria, which was was quite big and seemed clean at first glance. However, after careful observation there were oil stains all over the place, along with the presence of dirt and grime under the table and on the floor. Needless to say, I was disgusted.

An environment like this could cause the members of the squad to get sick, and that was simply unacceptable. Thus it was up to someone to make it as clean and as spotless as possible.

In this case, that someone is me.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

Something felt different that morning to the Black Bull members as they entered the cafeteria. One thing that they noticed was that their cafeteria no longer had that weird smell they had grown used to. Instead, it was replaced with the refreshing scent of lemons wafting through the air. They also noticed that there were fewer tables than yesterday. There was now only one big table and it was currently filled with an assortment of foods, all of which looked extremely delicious.

The place also had more lighting as the original tiny window connecting to the outside was cut away and in its place was a much bigger opening that drastically improved the room's internal lighting. There was even a vase filled with flowers on the table, something which had also been absent before.

As everyone was stunned looking at this, Magna and Asta came running in as Magna was showing Asta around the base. However, their entrance was ruined after they both slipped as they entered the cafeteria, unaware that the previously filthy floor had been polished clean, causing them to land head first on the floor.

"The hell?! Who is the fucker who made the floor so damn slippery? Is this a fucking prank, goddamit?!" Magna yelled while trying to stand up, only for Luck to step on him and force him back onto the ground.

"Wha! This looks awesome! We can fight and go all out in an instant without having to worry about blowing up a wall! And there is only one table to break so the captain won't be as mad! Amazing, amazing, amazing!" Luck said before seeing Magna turn to him with bloodshot and angry eyes. "You want to fight? Come on, let's do this!"

"You asked for it, dammit!" Magna said while standing up after Luck got off of his back, and both were in the process of charging their magic attacks and were one step away from attacking one another.

However, before they could attack each other, a wave of the most intense killing intent both had ever felt exploded from the kitchen. Slowly, the two mages turned to see a smiling Shirou appear while holding a bag of bread in one hand and a blood red spear with several barbs in the other. They were sweating nervously from the vibe the spear was giving off. Its killing intent was so strong that it felt like it was solidifying and dripping onto the floor.

Shirou calmly walked towards the two and decided that some 'basic rules' were in order.

"I will not stop either of you from fighting, but the kitchen and cafeteria is my sanctuary so if ANYONE damages it, I do not care who or why, I will hunt them down. Not a single insult to it will be allowed. Are. We. Clear?!" At that end he created more than thirty blades all aiming at Magna and Luck, making the two decide to back off, but Luck was smiling and looking forward to his next spar with Shirou. If there was even more to his power than what he showed during his initiation, Luck believed that he could go even further and maybe use it as a chance to push himself beyond his limits.

Shirou sighed at Luck's behavior. It had become clear to him that Luck was a battle maniac, but there was not really anything that he could do about it. At the very least, he could try and steer Luck's battle lust in the direction of those he should be fighting and perhaps learn how to work with other people as a team, not that Shirou was ever good with that himself in his previous life.

Seeing this Asta's eyes sparkled as he went towards Shirou.

"Shirou-sempai! Let's spar!" He said, making Shirou sweatdrop a bit.

"...You do know that we are both the same age and entered the squad at the same time, right? I am not your 'sempai' by any means."

"Then, Shirou-sensei let's go spar!"

Shirou face palmed when he heard that one.

"'sigh' Why are you calling me 'sensei'?"

"Uuummm, because you taught me how to better train myself back in Hage and can use a sword better than me. If you teach me how to properly use my sword, I am sure that I will become super strong in no time. Soon enough I'll be able to surpass you and become the next magic emperor! Then sister Lily will fall in love with me and I will become much taller and be super handsome and have Yuno groveling in the ground in defeat because of how amazing I am!" Shirou could not help but sweat drop at the the final bits of Asta's statement. It seems that Asta really was sensitive about his height.

"So, spar with me Shirou-sensei!" Asta yelled out, making Shirou shake his head finding it a little bit funny.

However, the 'hopeless' dream of Asta reminded Shirou of his own hopeless and impossible dream so much that he could not help but be drawn to it. He wanted to see if he could be the one to help him and perhaps even help the others in growing stronger. From what he could see, this squad had probably the most potential to become stronger and save more lives than any other in the kingdom. Doing nothing and letting this potential go to waste would be nothing short of a terrible mistake.

He then agreed with Asta's request, on the condition that they spared after breakfast, and only after he helped teach him better fighting techniques on how to use his power and energy more efficiently, as well as pushing is physical capabilities to their limits. He even thought about teaching Asta a proper training regimen to make him as physically fit as some of the legendary heroes from his old world, like Achiles, Fergus mac Roich, and Sasaki Kojuro. The knowledge on how they trained was partially stored inside his mind due to the effect of tracing of reading the story of their weapons. As they are part of the crystallization of their story when they are servants, it is not hard to see 'tips' on how they used and trained with their blades.

Of course, just those three would be unfit for what Shirou wanted. He himself had trained and 'united' many styles to his swordplay over the years. After all, they were essentially part of himself and the only problem he ever had was his lack of practice with them and the difference in basic capacity of the body that made him focus on his suicidal fighting style in his previous life. Not that he had a body that would could match the abilities of a servant, he was now able to fight on the same level as a master swordsman and that was something he wanted to impart on Asta in the hopes of helping the helpless boy with an impossible dream.

Meanwhile, everyone else was looking at them with slight interest. That is until Yami entered the room and everyone switched their attention to him.

He looked at the place and was about to yell at Shirou for modifying it without his permission, but Shirou beat him to the punch, "Your seat is at the head of the table. I prepared your favorite dish as well as a cup of high quality coffee that is normally only bought in the Hearts kingdom that I heard you like. There is also some sake in the back for you later that I bought a while ago from a merchant."

Yami looked at him with a bit of doubt since finding either coffee or sake in these parts was absurdly difficult. Yet what he didn't know is that both are not that rare back in the Hearts Kingdom and Shirou bought some during his trip back just in case. He had long since decided to be in the Black Bulls and from personal experience he knew that a happy Yami is better than a mad Yami any day. The only things that made Yami happier than sake and coffee was winning in gambling and beating Jack in a fight, and both were things that Shirou could not help him with.

Yami remained quite and kept his eyes on Shirou while sitting down at his place at the table. Without breaking eye contact, he slowly brought the coffee to his lips and took a long drink, slowly savoring the flavor of the beverage to ensure it was the real thing. After putting his cup down, Yami broke eye contact and gave a satisfied smile, which also made everyone in the room release the nervous breaths they were holding in.

"Nice job kid." he said before pouring himself another cup.

After everyone was finished eating, Magna took Asta to look around some more, while Shirou started cleaning dishes. He had already brought Noelle's breakfast to her, talked with her for a while, and now he only had to finish before starting his 'class' with Asta.

As he cleaned the dishes he felt someone approaching. A huge shadow loomed over him as he looked back and saw the giant form of Grey looking down at him, smoke leaving his mouth while he looked right ahead.

"Is everything okay, Grey-san?"

As he asked that a puff of smoke appeared and instead of the giant releasing smoke a new Shirou faced the actual Shirou.

"I came to help you clean up. I wanted to help as thanks for the meal you made. So just leave things to this prince." Gray/Shirou said before taking one of the dirty dishes and started helping. Shirou looked stunned for a second before smiling. Normally, only Sakura would ever help him do any chores in his previous life so having someone do it now felt rather nice, but it was still a bit disturbing when said person looked exactly like himself.

Well, Shirou had dealt with stranger things before. He did know Zelretch after all and he now lived in a world where everyone was a mage, so he decided to roll with it and go with the flow.

He started talking with Grey while cleaning the dishes, and he found it rather funny how Grey was pretending to be him, but there were glimpses of his true personality every now and then that Shirou noticed. He could tell that despite acting in a rather strange way, Grey was definitely a good person.

After they had finished cleaning, Shirou invited Grey to go with him to see his spar with Asta. However, Gray suddenly transformed back into his giant form before walking away. Shirou could only shake his head seeing this. It was clear to him that Grey was a shy person, despite him trying to be outgoing when he transformed.

Anyway, Shirou went to look for Asta by sensing for his ki around the base. In terms of ki, Asta's was the third highest after Yami and himself due to his excessive vitality that seemed nearly limitless. However, he also noticed that Asta was talking with Noelle and knowing her personality and her way of acting when trying to put on a show as a first introduction (she always liked acting just like her brother Nozel, even if he never payed attention or acted nice towards her), so Shirou knew things would not go well.

When he got there things were going about as 'good' as he expected. He arrived just in time to see Noelle unleash a sphere of water at Asta, but ended up hitting Magna instead. This in turn led to a shouting match between Noelle, Asta and Magna who were yelling at her to show more respect to her fellow squad mates. Shirou could not help but sigh at their argument and was preparing to move in to calm everyone down before things escalated.

However, in that moment Noelle's temper reached a boiling point and she grabbed her Black Bull's robe and threw it to the ground.

"Don't bother I quit this stupid squad!" she yelled turning around to walk away leaving everyone, including Shirou surprised.

Magna quickly recovered and picked up the robe before yelling after Noelle.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

"I am going before the filth of you Black Bulls rubs off on me! Everyone knows that you are the worst of the magic knights squads! This is hardly the place for a royal like-"

"Noelle!"

Noelle stopped talking the moment she heard Shirou's voice. Both Asta and Magna turned around to see Shirou walk up behind them. Shirou walked up to Magna and Asta and looked at the robe Noelle discarded, before looking back at her.

Shirou looked at Noelle, not with anger or contempt, but with understanding, yet a hint of sadness. Shirou did not hate Noelle for how she acted, but rather he understood why she was so hesitant to accept others considering how her own family treated her. Yet, it made him a little sad to know that she was feeling this way towards the same squad that he belonged to.

Noelle looked shocked and even started trembling a bit, before she grit her teeth, turned around and walked away.

Magna snapped out of her stupor and was about to yell at her to come back and apologize to the squad and their captain, but stopped when Shirou put a hand on his shoulder. Magna turned to him and looked like he was gonna snap at him, but held off once he saw the look in Shirou's eyes.

"May I take that please?" he said gesturing to Noelle's discarded robe, surprising Magna before he complied with his request.

"I apologize if Noelle came of as rude to the both of you. You both worked hard to earn those robes, so to hear someone speaking ill of them must have upset you. However, I ask that you don't hold Noelle in contempt for it. She may sound harsh, but Noelle is actually one of the most kind-hearted and sensitive people you'll ever meet. Trust me, you all have more in common than you think".

Before they had a chance to talk with him, he was already gone, leaving both Magna and Asta confused as to what just happened.

Magna sighed in exhaustion, "... Y'know what? I don't give a damn anymore. Overthinking things involving royalty is useless anyway." Magna said as he led Asta to look around some more.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

I wasn't surprised to find Noelle sitting on the roof of the base. Whenever she was stressed or wanted to relax, she always did enjoy going to high places.

When I got to the roof and saw her, I noticed that her face was red and she was clenching her fists so tightly that if her nails were any sharper, she most likely would have drawn blood. She was also biting her lips as she did this and she did not say anything even as she saw me approaching.

I also did not say anything. Instead, I just sat there beside her. Years of living with Rin made me realize that whenever a tsundere is angry with herself, the best you could do is just show that you are there for her, but avoid trying to actively comfort her. When it comes to people like Rin and Noelle, they have too much pride for that.

As we sat there for more than twenty minutes of silence she finally spoke to him.

"...Sorry, I know I shouldn't have done that... it is just... just-"

"I know. You are still having problems with controlling your magic power, right?" I said, making her flinch.

She looks down and gives me a sad chuckle.

"So you can imagine it. Yes, I don't know why, but my attacks never go as I want them to and I have no idea what to do anymore." She said as she started shrinking herself into a ball. I sat there by her side, making out the faint sounds of her sobbing.

I chose to not say anything. She wasn't looking for someone to take pity on her. What she wants, is for someone to be there for her in the moment. However, after listening to her cry for a while I could no longer hold myself back.

"Then why not ask for my help?"

"You?... I am sorry, but no one can help me control my powers properly. Even after all my efforts and after being taught by some of the best teachers in the capital, I still can't do it. Even if its you helping me Shirou, I can't do it." She said with defeat in her voice and turned around to face me showing me that her normally pink eyes, were now red and puffy from crying.

"I have an idea that might help. It is not a 100% solution, but I think it should be able to help a bit." I said before bringing out my grimoire. "Weapon Creation Magic: Sea Goddess Trident Noelle."

From the pages of my grimoire, magic energy poured out and converged to my hand before enlarging and taking the shape of a familiar trident that I had summoned during the magic knights exam. Looking at it, I could not help but chuckle. This might be one of the best weapons in my arsenal due to how easy it is to use, its versatility, as well as how it required little mana to create. Compared to any other A rank Noble Phantasm, this trident was something that any magus in my previous world would kill to have. Yet here I am using it in such a simple way.

I turn to Noelle and put it in her hand.

"Noelle, I want you to have this trident. It can help you control your magic much better than any wand could ever hope to match. With this, I am sure that you will be able to reach new heights."

She looks at it suspiciously before looking back at me.

"But I thought only you could use your weapons? Besides, this is too big. I can't carry around something of this size."

"Don't worry about it. This weapon can change its size as long as a proper user wills it to. Even if it can only change size as long as it is within a certain range. Also, what you said is not entirely correct. There are actually only two people that can use the weapons I create and they are either myself or the person the weapon is associated with. With this I am sure you will be able to get much further than before. Also, if you keep having difficulty using attack magic why not focus on defensive magic instead?" I proposed, and she looked at the weapon and me with a newfound light.

Heh, I guess I managed to finally get her back to her normal self.

Standing up with a newfound sense of confidence in herself, I accompanied Noelle until she was at the door, where went our separate ways. She went to go train close by while I went to look for Asta. It was about time I started his training after all.

* * *

"Raise your blade! Do you WANT me to take your head?" I yelled as we kept using simple wooden swords to fight one another. He complained at the start that he wanted to use his sword instead, but I argued that my weapons would prove ineffective against his sword. Considering that my weapons were made out of magic energy, it would be impossible to train Asta if he used his sword as it would destroy any weapon I made regardless of its strength. Hence, why we were using wooden swords to train.

The swords we are using are quite similar. Neither have any legend to their name but the form and weight of both were nmade to colsely ressemble that of Asta's black sword so they work well enough. I was using a sword style that is better suited for the type of sword Asta uses, and I was working hard to beat this style into him.

We had been training non-stop for about an hour now, and I must admit that while he has some talent with a sword, what really impressed me about Asta was his perseverance and sheer stubbornness. It is almost like he doesn't understand the concept of giving up or slowing down. Even as he was beaten into the ground again and again while we train, he somehow always finds a way to get back up and continue fighting with everything he has.

"Remember that the strength from swinging a sword like this does not come from your arms or your back, but from your hips. This type of heavy weapon is used for sweeping movements. As a result your stronger movements should begin in your hips, go to your back, transfer to your shoulders, and then move to your arms to give as much power to your attacks as possible. If you manage to use the strength of even the calves in your leg to start the movement with the same effort, your attack will contain at least five times the normal strength than if you were to depend on only your arms. Not to mention that this will also decrease the pressure and exhaustion you will normally feel."

"Understood, Shirou-sensei!" Asta yelled as he tried following my directions, but it was a slow process. He is still depending too much on pure strength, but with time I am sure I can nail some degree of actual technique into him.

As we continued our practice, I noticed how Asta started making a weird face after a while and his swings were not nearly as precise as they were at the start.

"Okay, stop. This is not working." I said, making him stop. Well, at least trying to since when I said this he started swinging his sword very fast and saying how he is still full of disposition, which earned him a sharp blow to the head.

"If I say stop then we stop, don't make me repeat myself." I said sternly causing him to shut up, while rubbing the growing bump on his head.

Seeing that he was no longer acting like a kid hyped up on sugar I decided to continue.

"Is there something on your mind? If it is bothering you so much, I am more than willing to listen." I said. Practicing with a sword without paying attention is a fine way of getting yourself injured. The last thing that I wanted was to see him make a careless mistake that could ruin all the work he has done up to this point.

He looks like he doesn't know what to say for a while before sighing and started to explain what was bothering him.

"It is just that I met that girl, Nola or something, and I can't understand how it is that you and her can even be related. You are a nice guy and its easy to get along with you, I mean so long as you are far away from Sister Lily... but she threw her Black Bull's robe away and insulted my dream like it was nothing. She acted all high and mighty just because she has a tad bit more magic power than me. I just can't understand that." Asta said.

I pondered Asta's question with his own.

"Do you know how royalty works in our kingdom?"

"Huh?"

"Royalty, in the simplest of terms, is the best by default. It is sad but true that those among royalty are simply better than most. Not only in terms of simply having greater magic reserves than most people, but also because of the accumulated training resources, teachers, and the fact that we can obtain our grimoires earlier than most people. It is expected and demanded that we are always the best and strongest. Any member of royalty, especially in relation to one of the royal families, that is considered subpar or weak in any regard, is considered a failure by most of the nobles that surround us. The problem with Noelle, which is her name by the way, is that she has difficulty controlling her magic power because of how she has more than virtually anyone else, not including myself. As a result, she is considered a loose cannon and a failure by most nobles and royalty her whole life much like yourself. The only difference is that she did not have as many people that would accept or even respect her efforts. There are only a small handful of our friends that recognize her potential. She always wanted to show that she also is worth obtaining a position in a magic knight squad, but the only one that wanted her was the weakest of them all. Even her brother, the captain of the Silver Eagles wanted nothing to do with her. The pressure she puts on herself and that others put on her is simply too much for her to bare on her own. So don't take all her actions at face value. She is actually a very kind and friendly person, just give her time to get used to this place and everything will be fine."

Asta looked at me with wide eyes as he processed what I just told him. However, before he had a chance to reply, a certain feeling came over me. The smell of the sea water intensifying to dangerous levels. I know who this smell belongs to, and I can tell what is going on.

Before Asta had a chance to say anything, I bolted towards the direction where the energy was coming from. As the energy kept increasing I could only increase the reinforcement around my body to get the source as fast as possible.

Finally, I arrived in a secluded part of the forest where Noelle was standing. She was holding the trident/wand in her hand while she had a giant orb of water hovering over its tip. The amount of water was ridiculous, easily reaching at least 30 meters in diameter and I don't even want to imagine how heavy the impact radius would be if it were to hit someone.

It was truly impressive, the power of this one water orb is probably equal to what a captain could do, but there was only one problem. Noelle was straining herself too much and struggled to keep it in place. At this point she would not be able to hold it for much longer, much less attack using it. Seeing this I know I have no time to lose. Moving fast and without bothering to alert her, I went directly to the miniature trident she was holding.

Putting my hands on it I focused on the weapon and understood what was going on. Noelle was putting too much power into it at once. The weapon can take a considerable amount of energy, but what Noelle unintentionally did was the same as trying to turn it into a broken phantasm. I started removing the energy of the weapon little by little as it returned to normal and the water orb disappeared. As I turned to her I could see her flinching, she probably thinks I was mad at her or something.

"You are truly amazing, you know that?" I said, making her look at me in wonder. "I did not even know it was possible to make a weapon like this go into that state. Your magic energy and output is definitely greater than what most people can accomplish. When you manage to control this weapon and your magic powers I am sure that you will be a force to be reckoned with. Also, did the weapon help you in terms of control?"

"Y-Y-Yes, of course it did. It is a weapon that bears the name of royalty so how could it not work perfectly? I could control my attacks and magic as if it was child's play. It was like a dream and I may have ended up a tiny bit excited by it, sorry." She must have managed to use her magic in whatever way that made her want to test herself further. In this case she went beyond the supposedly non existing limit.

Sighing I said, "Fine, just please don't go experimenting by yourself again. Have at least me, Finral, or Asta close by to help you when in need."

"Asta? Who is that?"

"He is the little white-haired guy you met earlier. He is actually pretty fun to be around and he can help negate your magic if it goes out of control again."

She nodded to this and decided to continue practicing, but this time both me and Asta were nearby training as well.

And so the day went on without a hitch.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

Meanwhile, located near the coast of the Clover Kingdom, a pirate was laughing as if he just won the lottery.

"Zehahahaha, I did it. I just need to go sell our prize and we will be rich, you bastards!" The pirate captain said laughing. He had a long black admiral's coat, an unkempt black beard, a golden necklace around his neck, a red glove, as well as a metal glove with a large hook growing out of his middle finger. As he laughed in happiness by managing to steal something even more precious than what he wanted he suddenly took out his grimoire and aimed at one of his crew members. From out of the water sea, gun turrets made of water appeared around him as he used his magic. "Water Creation Magic: Ten Gun Showdown."

As he used this spell all ten of the water guns simultaneously unleashed a barrage of high pressure water bullets at the unsuspecting crew member, literally tearing him to pieces in the process. The pirate smirked seeing the terror in the eyes of his men before continuing.

"He was being happier than me, and the happiest pirate in this entire ocean is and must always be me, Edward Teach, the feared pirate Blackbeard." As he said that he smirked as he took out a telescope and looked at the distance. "Next stop before we go sell everything we have for a good dose of food, grog and pleasurable company, the coastal city of Raque."

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **This will be the start of a mini arc, it will be a short one but with luck you guys will like it. Blackbeard was based on FGO's character. His personality is different now but later on I intend on changing him quite a bit, I hope you guys will enjoy it.**

 **Also, any thoughts you might have are appreciated and I hope to her your suggestions and ideas for characters or arcs you would like to see. This is a work in progress so your thoughts count for me to know to where take this story moving on from here.**


	13. Chapter 12

It has been four days now since I started living in the Black Bulls base and so far, things have been happening have been happening as much as I expected them to. Asta's training is going great, Noelle is opening up little by little to the other members of Black Bulls, and the cleaning of the place is advancing well enough. I was honestly surprised and a bit pissed when Yami told me that after he got this place, it was an abandoned building that many believed to be cursed, though he never let that bother him. He also never bothered cleaning it and just kept going as it is.

There were more dirt and spider webs in the building than some caves I've been in, and that is saying something.

But now, I finally did it. The whole place is clean as far as I can tell, excluding the rooms of my teammates and those that are locked. I guess today I can finally relax and maybe enjoy my ti-

BOOM

... aaaaand there goes the door to my room, proving once again that my luck sucks.

"Yo Brat Prince, you and some of the others were selected for a mission! Come down now or I will kill you." Yami said from the other side of the door that he just kicked/exploded.

Even though I know the mansion will recover regardless of the damage done to it, I could not help but feel my brow twitch in frustration. However, the fact that my room is now full of dust and debris is not annoying me... not in the least...

...Okay, maybe it is. But who can blame me? I just finished cleaning the whole base to at least make it not look like an abandoned dumpster.

Sighing, I stood up and went downstairs. After waiting for a couple of minutes, Yami came down with Luck, Vanessa, and Finral behind him. After they arrived, we all gathered around the dining table to start the meeting.

"So, the magic emperor gave us a mission. A pirate that's been raiding the coast of the Hearts Kingdom a few years back was spotted near the coast of our kingdom. He has already raided the city of Raque. The magic knights stationed there managed to repel them, but not before those bastards kidnapped at least fifty women and stole a shitload of gold and valuables. Our missions are to take out this pirate and bring back everyone he's kidnapped. For this mission, I and a few other captains will be appointing a team of three from three squads. On our side, Vanessa will be appointed as captain and lead both Luck and Shirou. You guys are to meet up with teams from both the Golden Dawn and the Blue Rose since they already have people already close by and will be meeting you all there. This scumbag is hiding somewhere out at sea so we've asked for the captain of the marine force to help us find, beat the crap out of and bring this asshole to justice, any questions?" Yami asked after he finished explaining. No one raised their hand, and Yami nooded.

"Alright then. If you guys understand than stop being lazy and get going already." He said the last part to Finral, showing that he was already taking too long to open the damn portal.

Shaking his head, Finral took out his grimoire and prepared to summon a portal. Vanessa was asking something to Yami but I was not focusing on that right now. At this moment, there are people in need of saving and we need to move out immediately. After FInral opened the portal I did not wait for the others and rushed through to get to Raque.

When I jumped to the other side of the portal, I was able to see the full extent of the damage done to Raque. Many of the structures had been decimated, while others were full of holes, which I assumed was caused by cannonballs.

I took notice of how the remaining villagers had been moved out of the rubble and unstable buildings. Unfortunately, the people were still suffering due to losing everything they had, and with many having lost a loved one during the assault. Meanwhile, the magic knights responsible for their safety stood around, lacking any form of empathy for the peoples suffering.

I felt my blood boil at the sight, and walked towards the nearest group of magic knights. When they saw me, I did not hesitate to berate them for their lack of action and started directing those magic knights into bringing all the injured civilians to me. At first, they chose to ignore me, not realizing who I was, and were unwilling to bother themselves with such a troublesome task.

After a while of me arguing with the knights, the commander responsible for the operation came forward to investigate the argument. Needless to say, when the commander saw me, he instantly recognized me and dropped down to his knees to apologize for his subordinates incompetence. He then yelled at all his subordinates to get to work and follow the orders I gave or be charged with the crime of treason. I honestly thought that the last part was a little much, but considering that it got the knights out and about to provide aid and support to the survivors of Raque, I was more than fine with it.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

"He really moves fast." Vanessa commented while exiting the closing portal. She hadn't even finished being briefed by Yami about the current situation at Raque, but the new recruit did not bother to wait for them and instead chose to jump ahead to save as many people as possible.

It was equally heartwarming and annoying for Vanessa as she knew that controlling that kid was going to be next to impossible for her.

"What did you expect?" Yami said while sucking on his cancer stick. "That prince is known amongst the higher-ups for three things: his incredible magic power and talent, his heroic tendencies and desire to care for everyone, and for being as stubborn as an ox when he sets his eyes on something he wants. Getting him to obey orders can be very easy or outright impossible. That is why when Julius asked me to lead this mission I told him I had a better option in mind. Good luck, I am going to go take a dump." Yami said as he started going out, already scratching his butt as if wanting to get to a bathroom as fast as possible.

"Wait, hold on! At least tell me who the captain we will be traveling with is. I need to know that at least." Vanessa said, but before she heard an answer Luck had cut her off and stood in front of Yami with an excited look on his face.

"Is this captain strong? Do you think it would be bad if we fought to death just a bit? I sort of want to fight to the death today. How about we fight a bit till half death now and the fight even a little more later to death?"

"The captain is strong and goes by the name of Drake, but not on the level of us magic knight captains. And no, you can't fight her to death, if you want you can go and fight the members of the other squads." Yami said, and instantly Luck was jumping around in joy about the prospect that he can, in his words, 'fight the other squads to the death!'

Seeing this Vanessa, reached into her bag for something that she had brought with her before leaving for the mission. From the contents of her enchanted bag, she pulled out a bottle of super concentrated rum. She was not nearly drunk enough for dealing with two troublemakers like Shirou and Luck.

BOOM

Vanessa sighed in defeat, as Luck ended up blowing up a wall with a lightning enhanced punch. It was a good thing that Vanessa had expected him to pull something like this and made sure to take an extra four bottles as a precaution. She had a feeling that she will need a lot of liquid courage to handle the events to come.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

After the magic knights in the area brought all the injured before me I did not waste any time before casting the power of Avalon over them. As they felt the effect of Avalon's healing power take over them, their injuries started closing quickly and feelings of relief flooded through them.

I could only smile seeing this, knowing that these people are now safe from danger.

"OOOONNNNNNIIIIIIII-CCCCCHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!" A familiar voice shouted behind me. Before I could react (which is saying something) a white missile crashed into my side. I feel as though at least one my ribs might be broken, but I quickly ignored the pain as a smiling Illya looked at me with eyes filled with so much happiness that it made my heart ache.

However, Illya's happy expression and smile changed, as they became scary. Next thing I know Illya's tiny hands are around my neck and started furiously shaking me with so much force I am surprised that my neck did not break.

"WHY. DID. YOU. DO. THAT?! You were supposed to enter Blue Rose and make me delicious cupcakes and sweets before going out to play! I had told you to choose Blue Rose for that so why did you not?" She yelled while continuing to shake me.

Before I even had the chance to explain my self to her, things took an even crazier turn.

Without warning a vine sprang up from the ground and grabbed me around my waist before pulling me back at high speeds. Illya tried to fight back and hold me in place, but a steel hand also appeared from the ground, pulled her back and trapped her inside of a very thick steel cage.

As for me, the vine that grabbed me dragged me through the air and sent me flying towards another group that was approaching. The group in question consisting of Yuno, Klaus, and-

BOING

...Mimosa who I was thrown into with head landing straight into her very soft and big boo-

No, no, bad mind, I should NOT be thinking of her that way. She is my childhood friend, I am sure she did not intend for me to land there of all places when she pulled me away from Illya.

Turning to look up from that position, I made out the shadow of a strange smile that I've never seen on her before. It lasted for only a second before it turned back to her original gentle and welcoming smile.

"It is good to see you, Shirou." she exclaimed happily while hugging my neck and bringing me even closer into her bosom. I tried opening my mouth to say something, at least an apology, but as I was doing that. "Kyaa, echi." She said, making me even more self-conscious about my current position, nt like her hugging me tight there was helping.

Eventually, I was able to get myself out of her grasp. As I stood up, I turned to the side and as expected, Klaus was bowing to him on one knee, bearing the image of the perfect and obedient knight.

"Your majesty, I am happy to see you in good health." He said seriously before turning quickly jumping up and giving me an inquisitive look. "I would also like to know exactly why you chose to enter a squad like the Black Bulls. But more importantly, I especially want to know where your bodyguards are! I must have a word with them about their decision to let you walk around with no security to guard you, it is completely unacceptable!"

I could not help but sigh at Klaus' stiff and overprotective nature.

"Calm down, we'll have plenty of time to talk about things later. Also, I don't really have bodygua-"

"WHAT?!" Klaus yelled as he abruptly stood up and got right into my face. "How can you, the royal prince and future king of our nation, walk around without a single bodyguard?! This is absurd!" Klaus said with a shocked face.

"Well, it's not that weird if you really think about it. I mean, the crown prince and one of the princesses of the Hearts Kingdom don't really have any bodyguards protecting them either." Unfortunately, I deeply regretted my choice of argument, as Klaus started lecturing me about how I shouldn't even be traveling alone to begin with, especially if I was visiting a foreign country and yada, yada, yada.

I was almost relieved when a rock giant appeared out of nowhere and pulled me away. I looked ahead of where the giant was taking me to see a very excited Sol waving at me while a fat woman with wings flew beside her.

However, before we could reach her, flower vines started covering the giant and sucked away the magic energy animating it, causing it to break apart.

This was shortly followed by Illya blowing up the cage she was trapped in with the help of a dark-skinned bald giant with flames being released from its mouth and carrying two big ass axes in its hands. I soon came to the realization that the pirates that attacked this town might not be the most destructive thing that happened these last few days here.

* * *

It was almost a half hour later before everyone finally managed to calm down. Personally, I know most of the people here were my friends and I would never hurt them, but sometimes I could not help but feel irritated by the chaos they cause.

Now was one of those times. Not to mention they did not stop of their own volition, but rather because they had exhausted themselves. Once their guards were down, I took advantage of that moment to launch some Black Keys at their shadows to temporarily lock them in place.

While they were calming down, I took the opportunity to summon back Avalon as it finished healing the injured civilians. When she returned, she silently watched what was unfolding in front of me and gave me a look from the side with an amused smile on her lips.

I rolled my eyes at her behavior before adopting a serious expression. Turning back to everyone, I decided now was a good a time as any yo stop my comrades' madness and stop them from murdering one another, especially Luck who was mumbling 'Fight to the death, let's fight to the death some more'.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled at the top of my lungs with the most authority I could muster, with an added reinforcement to my vocal cords for good measure.

It seemed to do the trick as everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and were now looking at me, a few even seemed nervous from the serious expression on my face.

"How in the hell can you guys even be thinking about acting like this?! We are all on the same side here and we have a mission to fulfill. We should be planning our next move to find the pirates responsible for attacking Raque, hurting so many of our fellow countrymen, and rescuing the civilians they've captured, before something even worse happens. Instead, what do I find? All of you causing a riot for some insignificant reason and ignoring your responsibilities in the process. Are you all trying to shame the name of the magic knights?"

I panted once I finished giving my speech. The entire time as I was giving it, I tried to imitate the person I knew was easily the scariest when it comes to scolding others making them feel like their lives and efforts were a mistake.

My cousin, Nozel Silva. Sure enough, it seemed to have the desired effect. Everyone had hung their heads low in shame, even Luck had trouble looking me in the eye after that.

However, the moment did not last for long the sound of someone clapping behind me grabbed our attention. When we turned around to identify the source, we saw that it was caused by an unusual looking woman. She had long and wavy crimson pink hair, blue eyes and a scar across her face. She was wearing a brown choker collar almost attached to her dark-pink captain's vest which showed off quite a bit of her cleavage, as well as white pants with a pair of long dark-brown boots.

"Well said, young prince. Well said indeed. But you shouldn't worry so much. My ships have only just arrived so this small delay isn't a problem. Of course, before we leave, I do have a small request. I was hoping to ask if me and my men could help ourselves to the money on the enemies ship, as our fee of course." She said, with a confident smile.

It took me a few seconds before I recognized who it was that was standing in front of us.

Francisca Drake, the captain of the Clover Kingdom's naval forces and someone who is hailed as a hero for her efforts in stopping a tentative invasion from the Diamond Kingdom. If the stories about the battle were true, Drake had fearlessly charged against an invasion force with her own force consisting of only half that of the enemy's. She is a legend in naval warfare and I have no doubt she is capable, but it seems her desire for money is just as legendary. It seems that Julius was telling the truth when he said that Drake was the type of person who loved living her life to the fullest.

"Those terms are acceptable. However, before anything else, we will first secure the funds needed to repair the damage to the city. Barring that amount, feel free to take what you want. If we also happen to find any magic related items there, we want you to sell them to us at an affordable value. The value will be market price and paid in full. I think this should be a good enough deal." I said to her.

She thought for a while before nodding her head.

"Yeah, that works. I would rather stay with all the money but some concessions can be made if there is no other way." She said before showing a more lecherous face and saying. "So? Which of these lovely ladies is the one you are fucking? Is it one, or all? Are you at least looking out to do that to any of them on the ship or do you need a visit to the brothel to get your thing going beforehand? If you want, I can take you there myself. I can even get you a discount for going with me as I am a long time costumer, hahahaha."

"""""PFFFTTTHHHHHHHHHH"""""

Me and the others all did spit takes as she said that. My face and those of Sol, Illya, and Mimosa all turned blood red, while the latter three had actual steam coming out of the sides of their heads. Vanessa and Luck were the only ones who weren't red in the face. of course, this was mostly because Luck wasn't really interested in anything that was not battle related and Vanessa...

"Oh, that is a good one girl. That being said, I am also curious. Which of these lovely ladies are you with right now? Or could it possibly be Noelle back at the base." Vanessa said with a sly smirk and holding tightly onto a bottle of rum. I was honestly not all that surprised that she was already completely drunk.

"Oh yeah! Now that is what I am talking about." Drake said as she took the drunk Vanessa by the side in a sideways hug. "Enjoy life to the fullest, drink and take whatever you want, be direct without worrying too much, this is exactly the type of person I like the most! Now tell us boy, who is it that you want?"

"Yeah, yeah, tell your onee-sans who it is. We want to know." Vanessa parodied and just like that, I was between a rock and a hard place. I was not involved with any of them like that at all, but my instincts honed in combat during my previous life and the years of dealing with the mood swings of Rin made me capable of sensing when anything I say will end up in disaster.

I could only think of one rational decision to get me out of this predicament.

Pulling a dagger I hid behind my back, I quickly threw it as far away as I could out to the open sea. Before anyone could react I had already teleported to my knife out in the open sea. I caught it the moment I reappeared with a separate dagger already in my other hand. I repeated my previous action, once more teleporting farther away before repeating the action over and over.

This is a method of escape I designed some time ago for emergencies. It takes quite a bit of magic energy to keep up but the speed is superb and the fact that I could use it to escape situations like that made me all the more relieved.

I can only hope they will not get to me too fast.

… Oh, who am I kidding? They definitely will get here fast.

My best chance is to pass through the area of the Sea Bed Temple and go into the deep sea. There are likely to be a few sea-type beasts that will show up. If I find one, I can use Bellerophone, Rider's chain Noble Phantasm that allowed her to control magic creatures and use them as mounts to extract their full power and use it to the fight in hand.

That will be my chance, I must save the captured civilians, but I also no better than recklessly charging into enemy territory and getting myself killed. It would be a disaster to the whole nation if the only legitimate successor to the throne were to perish, especially now that Spades and Diamond kingdoms are strengthening their forces even more than in the past. Nowadays, they are becoming more and more daring.

It's only a matter of time before they start causing even more trouble and if there isn't anyone to lead the Clover Kingdom, then things will get even worse. I had faith that Julius could probably lead everyone in times of crisis, but he is just one person, not to mention that father has some issues with him, so things would not go well there. The best possible option is for me to be there and unite both the imperial family and magic knights.

Anyway, it is not like I could wait with them back there. Every instinct I have is warning me to get the hell away from there and protect myself. I may come to regret my decision once we regroup but for now I feel that it is safer to be as far away as possible. Between being there and facing a bunch of pirates in the middle of the sea alone, I think I have a better shot with the pirates.

* * *

Back at the port, the other magic knights were dumbfounded by what just happened. Before anyone else could say anything, a certain someone started to shout at the top of his lungs.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" And just like that Klaus activated his magic, creating a metal chariot and started traveling at full speed after Shirou. It was amazing how fast Klaus was despite the fact he was never really that fast to begin with.

Maybe it was a breakthrough of his, no one really knew and he would not care as all that was on his mind at this moment was getting to Shirou as fast as humanly possible to ensure his safety above all else. Shirou might think it was too much, but Klaus would vehemently disagree with him.

Klaus was born and raised amongst the nobility, to be more specific most of his family was all made up of Royal Magic Knights, those who protect the emperor above all else. He had grown up with this mentality hammered into his mind over and over. It did not help that when Klaus met Shirou he saw him as the type of leader that was so strong that he doubted Shirou would ever even need protection, which made him a bit depressed.

Shirou did not understand exactly what the boy was thinking back then so he just scratched his chin while seeing Klaus acting the way he did before saying.

"Hey, even if I am strong it doesn't mean I can take care of everything by myself. I am a bit, for the lack of better word, idiotic and prone to jump into action before thinking and get way over my head so I want I can trust by my side when the time arrives that I need help. Would you help me then?" Shirou had said that as he felt that Klaus was similar to his old friend Issei. Someone that needed that extra push and that would get him out of a bad spot.

The problem was that Shirou's words worked far, FAAARRRR too well on Klaus. The result was that Klaus was now so focused on ensuring Shirou's well-being that during a mission he would easily ignore everything else if Shirou did anything stupid like going to face the enemy alone.

Really, he was the poster child for knights that served an unreasonable king (or prince in this case), but he would not want things to change all that much. At most he wanted Shirou to be in Golden Dawn, if only to ensure his safety at every waking moment of his time.

As the others saw Shirou and Klaus disappearing over the horizon they did not know what to do. Well everyone except Luck who, for some reason, was removing his clothes while yelling, "Yey, a swimming race to the enemy! The winner gets to fight all of them! How exciting, let's goo-"

"Oh, no you won't!" Vanessa said as she used her threads to pull Luck back while he was flying over the water. Seeing that she managed to stop at her idiot of a teammate she turned to Drake, "Onee-san, could we get going? I think that if we take too long things would go bad somehow... for various reasons."

Drake was confused for a second before turning and seeing that Illya, Mimosa, and Sol with extremely dark expressions as if they wanted to hit someone to death for what just happened. Not only did Shirou run away, but most importantly they were left without an answer!

Seeing their antics, Drake could not help but laugh again, she loved chaos a lot and this was exactly what she liked to see.

"All right, bitches and bastards, get on my ship. We will reach those three fools soon enough and destroy those pirates ourselves!"

"'"'"""OH!""""""

It took everyone a few moments before they realized what Drake had said. She said three instead of two.

It appears that during the commotion, one of their overly competitive comrades, had taken off on his own,

"You will not beat me on this mission, Shirou. Not a chance." Yuno said while flying pn his broom at full speed towards the direction Shirou had teleported to earlier.

* * *

Looking for the pirates was a tad bit harder than I originally expected. The good news is that I managed to find a sea beast that I plan on domesticating.

The only problem is that it is a fast one and looks like, for the lack of better words, a Pokemon.

... No, I am not kidding. Illya (from my original world) made me watch a lot of anime and movies with her while we were together. One of them was Pokemon and this creature in front of me look just like one of them.

It is a massive whale-like beast with two giant pectoral fins, each with four white square-shaped nails. It has a deep blue body and a white chin area with two small spikes protruding out from under it. Above each eye are two white, oval-shaped spots. It has red stripes around its chin, eyes, dorsal fins, and torso. The tail is tattered with four trailing parts, the inner ones being smaller than the outer. Its eyes are small, yellow, and shadowed with a black sclera.

When it appeared the whole area started to rain furiously as if we had just entered a massive storm. Its eyes are locked on me, with a look that I pretty much guessed was it wanting to pretty much devour me whole.

Although, that did not really strike me as unusual. Sea monsters are known for being nigh unbeatable in their home environment and love to eat meat full of magic energy to grow stronger, Humans like myself, were considered a delicacy to beasts like this, and this is one of the reasons why it was next to impossible to travel long distances over seas.

I started to think that my scent must have pretty overwhelming fragrance, because its eyes are almost going crazy as it glares at me.

I instantly summoned a sword-styled mystic code that I obtained during my travels and aimed it towards the water below me. In that instant a section of the sea froze beneath my feet. It isn't a strong mystic code as it only can freeze a radius of up to 10 feet around the area where it stabs and anyone with decent magic defense (that is any person in this world except perhaps Asta), can ignore the freezing effects for the most part.

But at the moment, it was plenty useful in making myself a platform for me to step on and balance myself in the raging ocean.

Facing each other I barely had the time to breath before it advanced towards me. Its mouth was big enough that it could take in an entire small ship in with one bite with space to spare. Its teeth were also quite terrifying as well.

Putting my hands forward, I used my Grimoire to create a very special Noble Phantasm. In my previous life it would have been impossible for me to trace this, but with my improved mana reserves and magic circuits, it was possible for me to use it.

 _"Mystical Weapon Creation: The Miniature World Enclosed by the Azure Sky, **Akhilleus** **Kosmos** "_

After I finished the incantation, a small shield appeared in front of me in a bright burst of light. Producing this Noble Phantasm may have cost me about twenty percent of my energy, but the fact that it was incredibly strong and would last for a long, LONG time, more than made up for it.

It is a Divine Construct much like Ig-Alima. It is a silver shield made by Hephaestus with a compressed world inside it. Destroying this shield would require a power strong enough to destroy the world as it can withstand even an anti-country noble phantasm. Its key characteristic, however, is how easy it is to use. Activating it costs almost nothing in the way of energy and the defense is practically unbreakable. It was truly something that made me sigh in amazement whenever I see or feel it. It was the epitome of protection and a masterpiece that I could compare to even Excalibur.

It certainly proved its worth as when it tried to take a bite of me, but all it got was a bunch of stones as he landed in a miniature world trapped and unable to escape.

Taking a deep breath, I saw it jump back and try to leave the shield's area of effect, but there is no way that I was about to let that happen. Creating Archer's Bow from my grimoire I pulled a few unnamed swords before firing them at high speeds towards it.

The beast, however, was not that easy to deal with. It opened its mouth and from the depths of its maw an ice beam was released. Upon contact, all of my magic arrow/swords were frozen in mid-air and then shattered into pieces.

"Tch." this is going to be troublesome. This beast can defend itself against my attacks and I can do just the same against it. I could kill it, there is no doubt there as I could feel that it is not at its full strength and I have more than enough firepower to do just that with some of my Noble Phantasms. However, I did not want to needlessly waste my strength. I want to subdue it with as little damage as possible as I do intend on using it in the fights to come.

Taking a deep breath, I came up with a plan that would fulfill my objectives. It was crazy no doubt about it, but it was still a plan nonetheless.

Reinforcing my legs, I prepared myself and the shield in my hands as I activated my grimoire again.

 _"Mystical Weapon Creation: Bride of Chivalry **Bellerophon**."_

From my grimoire, a pair of nails with chains attached to them that could stretch almost indefinitely flew out of my grimoire. Although useless by itself, this Noble Phantasm costs a lot to create since it is A+ Rank and allows me to turn any Phantasmal or Divine Beast into my mount. As I lowered my shield and deactivated it, it was more than happy to launch a new attack at me. It jumped out of the water as blue lights lit up all over it body and spheres of concentrated water magic appeared all around it.

It looks like this was its signature move, but even though I could feel the power behind the attack I refused to back down. I maintained my focus and after using reinforcement to my body's limit, I launched myself towards it. One hand holding the chain, while my other arm held the shield to protect me, along with one of my Spatial Daggers Finral to avoid as many attacks as I could.

The moment after I launched myself from my platform, it was destroyed by one of the water lasers that was fired from one of the compressed water spheres.

Shortly after ten more lasers were fired towards me. I marveled at the creature's power. It was like I was facing the wrath of a god, but I could only smirk as I thought that.

Heroes are known for defying gods all the time, so why would things be any different against this guy's power?

Drawing on more of my power I materialized even more of spatial daggers and started launching them all around me. Unlike when I was using it to travel, I used the number of daggers to my advantage and threw them towards every area I felt was safe from the beams of water magic. Once my path had been set, I teleported to the one northwest of my location, avoiding two beams that crossed over my previous location.

A second later, another one beam was aimed in my direction, but I was able to grab dagger in midair and throw it in the area above the beast's head. I then attempted to aim the dagger down on its head with the intent to teleport towards it, but it made a water-based barrier around itself, I cursed under my breath and was about to pull on a different weapon to get me out of this sticky situation, since I barely had a few seconds before the lasers hit me or I fall directly into this beast's mouth.

Just as I was about to pull one of my weapons I felt something from my grimoire, It was like one of my many weapons was crying out to be used. The sensation felt a little weird considering that all these weapons are all a part of me, even the ones connected to my friends. However, considering which one it is, I guess it is to be expected that it would be overly excited in being of use and showing off its powers.

Not knowing if I should laugh or cry, I pulled out a weapon that was probably one of the most powerful in my arsenal.

 _"Weapon Creation: Time Emperor Gun **Julius**."_

As I said that a large chunk of my reserves vanished as a gun appeared in my hand. I aimed the gun down and focused my mana, "Fourth Bullet: Super Accelerated Time."

As the bullet hit the barrier, the water surrounding the beast burst into a cloud of steam, momentarily obstructing its view of me as I passed through where its barrier was. It seemed to sense me and changed its body so now I was just meters away from its gaping mouth.

I smiled, this was not a problem for me. I changed the barrel on my gun and pulled the trigger.

" _First Bullet: Frozen time_." As the bullet hit the beast, it stopped completely in its tracks. I then quickly aimed the gun at myself as I changed the barrel again. " _Second Bullet: Time Accel_."

The instant I fired the world around me slowed down to a stop. I landed directly on the beast's tongue before moving to its head and then wrapped it with Bellerophon to lock it in my control. All in less than one second.

If people call my powers cheating, then this weapon is the perfect BS power that can only be described as plain unfair. If you exclude the obscene amount of magic energy it spends, it is basically a perfect power in all aspects. Depending on the the bullets I use, my weapon can either accelerate a targets time, stop an attack or my enemies movements (of course doing this consumes a ton of energy, so I can only choose one), accelerate my body, slow down anything (myself or my enemies, it is much easier in my magic reserves) reverse the flow of time, and I can even use it to look back into my own or others pasts. Even though this particular skill is too invasive and I don't like using either, there is a certain time limit to how far back I can look into a person's memory.

Anyways, as Kyogre's time starts returning to normal, I sit down and start focusing in regaining some of my magic power. With any luck, I can recover enough since in this state of time acceleration the speed of magic recovery also accelerates considerably, which is why I accelerated myself even if there was no real urgency for me to do so.

After resting for a while, I saw both my mounts and my own time had returned to normal. I managed to recover a bit thanks to the effects of Julius, and I still had Julius and Akhilleus Kosmos out in case it still wanted to put up a fight. I was confident that I was prepared for any possible-

"Unhand him, foul beast!"

And just like that Klaus, for some completely unknown reason to me, appeared with a giant spear in hand flying right at Kyogre.

It took a lot of my willpower to make sure Kyogre did NOT crush my friend. Even if it was already under my control, it was still very strong-willed, territorial, and aggressive so Klaus' actions were just too much for it to not want to attack him.

Sighing I turned my Julius towards Klaus and changed the barrel of the gun.

 _"Third Bullet: Time Stagnate Bullet."_

As I used this Klaus slowed down enough for me to lead Kyogre out of the range of Klaus' attack. I then requested for Kyogre to pull Klaus towards me, which it did y using the water around us. I was impressed by the level of Kyogre's control over the ocean. It was almost like an extension of himself.

As Klaus' time returned to normal he tried to attack Kyogre's back, but I quickly intervened to stop him.

"Calm down Klaus! I swear, everything is okay." I said, trying hard to calm him down.

He looked as if he had just witnessed something impossible as he saw me controlling Kyogre. His surprise was soon replaced with admiration as he kneeled down on the ground.

"I am infinitely sorry for not being by your side to witness you as you managed another great act and subdued this foul creature."

'FOUL?!" I blinked in surprise from the unexpectedly loud voice which echoed all around me.

'Since when have I been 'Foul'?! How rude is this fellow? Can't he see that I am an amazing and supreme master of the sea?'

I gaped at the booming voice. I looked around myself trying to pinpoint where exactly the voice was coming from.

'Stop trying to ignore me. You did subdue me after all so at least answer when I talk to you!'

I could only look down in doubt as I answered more with a question than anything else.

'Kyogre?'

'Hoho, to think that even the continental dwellers would remember me, I guess I am just that amazing, hohohoho.' The beast said while turning one eye to me in what I can only assume is its own version of laughter. 'Yes, my name is Kyogre, the legendary mount of the Sea God and the bringer of storms. I fought in many great wars and was once called a God by many coastal tribes and islanders of the islands south of here. But now that you managed to subdue me, I have decided to accept you as my new partner! Be proud of that, human!'

…You know what? I will put all this as Zelretch's fault as I am pretty sure that things will not go well due to this for some reason.

Oh well, let's just hope it is not ALL bad. After all, it is not like this is something that will have a long term impact or anything like that.

* * *

In the underwater temple the statue of the Sea God started trembling as people were worshiping it. Without warning the statue lit up with a bright light in front of everyone as the old High Priest suddenly felt a tremor run down his spine as two tears appeared on his face.

"Finally, the Sea God has awakened and is riding his precious divine mount Kyogre again. The oceans will open and we will go and welcome our god again before being allowed to resurge and rejoin the continent in full!"

""""""""""""" Long live the Sea God, Long live the Sea God!""""""""""""" Everyone around started chanting as they began preparations to go meet the Sea God.

* * *

In the Spades Kingdom, a girl with twin ponytails and with a bored look on her face while wearing way too few clothes for the icy temperature of the kingdom suddenly felt a wave wash over her. An intuition as it could be said.

"Heh, I guess something fun might be happening in the south. I am a bit bored so I am going." She said while jumping out of her comfortable couch.

The other person in the room could only sigh, she was physically almost identical except for one being blond and the other having black hair, but in terms of personality, they were completely different.

The black-haired one was spoiled, egocentric, capricious, and very annoying to anyone and everyone while the blonde was serious, hardworking, introverted, and a bit more passive.

That was the reason why Ereshkigal could only sigh as she stood up and started following her sister, Tres General Ishtar of the Unlimited Fortune. Truly, they might be twins but Ishtar was so willful, especially since she was chosen by a 'god' (if it is true or not a god is still doubtful, it might just be someone who used reincarnation magic but no one knows the exact truth) and since then she sometimes does things no one can comprehend.

Ereshkigal could only pray that whoever it is that her sister was aiming at this time would at least be left with a full corpse by the end of her 'having fun'.

* * *

 **Writer's Note.**

 **I know, introducing something like Kyogre is kind of weird, but I did mention before that there are magical beasts out there and while I was writing this sort of happened. It will influence the story but again this is quite a bit AU later on so it is to be expected.**

 **Don't worry, other characters may get their own beasts including Asta. I know it may be a bit of a turn off for some, but I hope that others will enjoy this. Personally, imagining something like Yuno flying on a Rayquaza seems to good to pass up.**

 **The next few chapter I will explain more about them and this little arc will finish soon as it will give way to the dungeon exploration arc.**

 **Thanks for reading, review favorite and follow this story if you'd like. Until next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 13

For the people waiting aboard Commander Drake's ship, they were, for the lack of better words, making a scene.

"*BURP*, "I did not, huh, expect a ship to, huh, rock side to side so muu~~" Vanessa put both of her hands over her mouth, before making her way towards the side of the ship where she hurled the contents of her stomach. She was not the only one however to suffer, as Sol was also suffering from a similar ailment.

"Yeah, not nee-san. A ship rocks sides to side too much. Why can't it be like the earth? Strong and stable? This is my first trip on a real ship and I hate it already." Sol said, her normally tan skin gaining a few shades of green with every passing second. Unlike Vanessa, she was doing whatever she could to not roll over and release ALL of her lunch.

The other knights aboard the ship, on the other hand, were doing much better by comparison. That is, if you exclude the fact that Illya was glaring at Mimosa due to the difference in body development they have had in the last year, while Mimosa was eyeing Illya and feeling jealous of how thin and slender she was even though she eats mostly sweets, something that Mimosa did not dare do for fear of getting fat (not that she would, but it useless to try and tell her that).

One was developing bountifully, while the other was blessed with a different type of beauty. Even so, both were not happy with it even though they were both first class beauties. Woman are hard to understand after all.

On another part of the ship, the other member of the Blue Rose's, Puli Angel, was talking with Luck.

"Hey, hey, is there a reason why you're fat? Like being able to absorb more impact during fights?" Luck asked, oblivious to how his 'innocent' question resulted in Puli falling to the ground with tears on her face.

"I-I am not fat! I am just full of womanly charm! Why can't anyone see this?" She said, mostly to herself, but that did not stop Luck from answering.

"Uhmm, maybe because there is too much fat above these 'charms'?"

And with that Puli started crying in the floor even harder, before standing up and attempted to fly straight at Luck, only for him to evade her clumsy strike and start fighting the crying woman with a smile on his face.

Well, the smile lasted until she got sick of crying and decided to do something more constructive with her time. In this case, that something involved her trying to bash Luck's face in. Of course, this was what Luck actually wanted so he had no complaints there.

Meanwhile, Drake, who was in the helm of the boat, took their antics in stride and laughed, while her crew shook their heads at their captain's actions.

Drake was someone who enjoyed living her life to the fullest. Every time she took action, she did everything in her power to ensure that she put all of her heart and soul into seeing it through. To her, this randomly assorted crew of misfits and weirdos that was making more trouble than it was worth, was more than entertaining enough for her.

However, her attitude did a complete one eighty, as she took note that they were approaching the area where Blackbeard was supposedly hiding in.

"Allright! Listen up everyone! Front and center!" Drake yelled out, her normally carefree tone replaced with a voice filled with a sense of authority that demanded respect, prompting everyone to drop what they were doing and gather around Drake. "Okay, you pipsqueaks, calm the fuck down and listen. Onee-san has something to tell you all." As they would soon be engaging the enemy, Drake took it upon herself to explain to everyone everything she knew about their foe.

While Drake was speaking, Luck, Illya, Puli, and Mimosa moved towards her. None of them were looking each other in the eye as they were all in disagreement, while Luck was thinking on how to create more chaos.

Seeing them approaching like that Drake chuckled to herself, much like how someone laughs at their younger sibling when they are being mischievous.

But that stopped when she saw that neither Sol nor Vanessa even tried to stand up. Getting a tick mark on her head Drake turned to one of her sailors.

"Go and bring them here, I don't have all day."

"Yes, mam!" He said hastily before moving to Vanessa and Sol. He tried to make them stand up, but when he tried to touch Sol, the girl quickly turned around and gave him a roundhouse kick to the head.

"No one touches me unless I want them to understa- *BURGH*" And just like that Sol was on the lateral of the ship again, liberating whatever was left of her stomach.

The sailor then tried to move to Vanessa. While he was able to help her to stand up, she then proceeded to threw up on him as he tried taking her to Drake. Of course she washed out the taste of bile in her mouth with more alcohol, which only made her even more drunk, making her even more nauseous than before.

Drake her head out of exasperation at the sight. These two were about the worse choice for this type of warfare, totally useless. It was best to put them in one of the cabins when the fighting started rather than let them stay here. After all there, was a real risk of her sailors tripping in vomit during the fight. While as funny as that may sound, it was definitely something that she would rather not happen.

After that, Drake did not bother herself with the two anymore and instead focused on the four magic knights in front of her.

"As I was saying, I wanted to explain to you all a little more about the bastard we are about to face. His name is Edward Teach, but his 'nom de guerre' is Blackbeard. He is the true definition of a pirate. He enjoys nothing more than stealing, pillaging, raping, and killing and does any and all forms of evil acts, which are as normal as breathing to him. I met him once before, but he managed to escape, but I saw what was left of the ship he had attacked".

Drake's eyes narrowed with rage, "There was not a single spot on that ship that wasn't covered in blood. He and his crew violated and killed the women he captured, and threw the men he captured overboard to serve as food for his beast that he keeps as a pet, and its not just some random sea serpent either.

Somehow, that crazy bastard managed to take control of a rare and powerful a sea monster known as a Bewilderbeast. It is sometimes referred to by sailors as the "King of Sea Beasts". It has two main abilities. The first is that, as its title suggests, allows it to control lower sea creatures like sharks and piranhas. It's other and most terrifying ability is that its capable of releasing a devastating blast of ice that freezes and destroys anything its path. A troublesome enemy indeed, but nothing that my Golden Hind can't handle. The only problem is that if I focus on dealing with that monster you all must focus on taking down Blackbeard and his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Blackbeard himself is not to be trifled with. He is highly proficient in water creation magic. If I were to rank in terms of power, he would be the equivalent of a third or second highest ranked magic knight. However, we will be fighting him in his territory. Fighting out on the open sea gives him a considerable advantage to the point where could hold his own against a magic knight captain or vice-captain."

"The majority of his underlings also specialize in water magic and they won't hesitate to attack anyone or use civilians as human shields. Thus, your first objective should be to send someone inside of their base and protect the civilians." Drake said as she finished explaining. By that point, the mood in the cabin changed. After listening to Drake, every single one of them came to realize exactly how dangerous this mission was.

A giant monster, a person that was strong with territorial advantage, and a high risk environment for civilians. All of that meant that this mission would be much more difficult than they initially believed.

Suddenly, one of the sailors that was keeping an eye out for Blackbeard saw something fast approaching the ship in the distance.

"Captain, I think we might have some problems. Something huge is coming our way at top speed, and it doesn't look friendly."

Drake was about to answer, when out of nowhere a rain started falling onto her ship. It started lightly at first, before turning into a torrential downpour. Drake rushed to the side and pulled out a spyglass to identify what was approaching. Once she saw what was coming, her eyes widened in realization and she could not help but curse under her breath. She had once seen the creature that could cause rain with just its presence and she did not want anything to do with it.

She knew that many of the inhabitants living in the underwater magic zone of the Seabed Temple considered this creature as a form of divine beast. More specifically, the mount of the Sea God. While she did not believe any of this nonsense, she did indeed believe that this was not an easy enemy to face at all. It was strong enough to the point that she would have to take it seriously if she wanted to kill it.

But as she started preparing the cannons and took out her grimoire she saw that there was actually someone riding the beast. He had red and silver hair, golden eyes, and, in her opinion a muscular physique that looked quite hot all wet.

By his side was an older, silver haired older with glasses and a considerably muscular body that was quite uncommon amongst the magic knights. He was by the side of the red-silver haired prince as if he was his bodyguard, which wasn't that far from the truth either.

Not knowing what to do Drake simply watched Shirou with an astonished look on her face. Within a matter of minutes they finally reached them. When it was close enough Kyogre jumped out of the water with Shirou on his back and heading towards Drake's ship, causing several people to panic. However, just as it looked like it would cruch them, Kyogre's body started to shrinking down in size until it was just 40 centimeters in length.

Honestly, to Drake and several other female members of the crew, he looked a lot cuter like this compared to its giant form.

"Hey, sorry for running of on my own before." Shirou said sheepishly. He knew what he did was reckless, but facing Kyogre out in the open sea, was still a much better option than dealing with everything else that he was dealing with before.

Maybe he could talk to his father about this. Dealing with women might be his one and only redeemable trait.

What he did not expect, however, was that instead of bothering themselves with him, Mimosa and Illya ran straight to the tiny Kyogre and started treating it just like a plushy toy while Sol only looked at him for a second before re-starting to threw up and feel like she was in hell all over again.

'Master, save me! These two wrenches are making me feel way too uncomfortable!' Kyogre yelled at Shirou in his mind, they had already become partners, or to be more precise master and familiar, and now the two could communicate mentally. Hearing Kyogre's pleas Shirou could only apologize in his mind and pretend nothing was happening behind him. It was a sacrifice that had to be made.

Seeing this Drake released a loud booming laugh as she found the entire situation hilarious, but it quickly stopped as she decided to explain to Shirou the situation at hand.

After describing to him the type of person that Blackbeard was Shirou's blood ran cold. His eyes sharpened as he looked straight at Drake.

"I will leave defeating the monster to Kyogre and your crew. You should go together with the others to face off against Blackbeard and his crew. I will be responsible for safe guarding the civilians. I give you my word that as long as I am there, no one will be getting hurt." Shirou said, his eyes releasing a strong and cold glint like steel and exerting a type of pressure that commanded obedience through authority and respect.

Shirou rarely ever showed any kind of anger or other emotional responses to situations like this, but when it involved ensuring the safety of innocent people, he would not hesitate to take action. If others would not help, he would do it by himself if needed. That's just the sort of man he is.

Drake felt a great pressure coming from Shirou. It almost felt like Shirou was the embodiment of the will of hundreds of kings and leaders, and she could not deny his decision even if she wanted to.

Was this still the same man she heard many nobles refer to as the 'commoner prince'? Bunch of fucking idiots, that is what those who said that were for fucking sure!

But she could only smirk as she thought a bit more. A leader like this was one that would get things done, and if he wanted to protect the civilians it would be all the better as she could feel how the entire continent was moving towards war in the near future due to Diamond Kingdom's recent actions. The old emperor is getting weaker by the day, and there are even rumors that he has become nothing more than a figure head. A puppet being controlled by someone else from the shadows, while the older generation of generals and captains of all nations were being replaced by much more capable and hot-blooded ones.

In Drake's opinion a war between kingdom's was all but inevitable. Yet, Shirou just might be what Clover needs to get through it.

* * *

Shirou POV

That went much better than I expected. I honestly did not expect for things to go as smoothly as they did. I actually though that something was going to happen like Klaus trying to stop me or maybe the others trying to go together with me.

Right now, I was making my way towards the location of Blackbeard's base. I was currently travelling underwater at speeds beyond the capability of normal humans thanks to a new weapon of mine. Shortly after my battle with Kyogre, I somehow added a new weapon to my growing arsenal. It, or rather they, were called Godly War Fans Kyogre. It consisted of two war fans connected by a chain made out of water. The fans themselves were designed in a way similar to that of Kyogre's fins, complete with even his symbol. The feeling was similar to Noelle's weapon, the only difference was that while Noelle's contained a sense of enormous power buried within the fans did nothing to hide theirs. Holding them felt like I was holding a living storm in my hands. In my right hand, I could feel the power of crashing waves and in the one n my left reminded me of a violent typhoon.

It took me a while to get the hand f them, but I was a quick study. I soon realized that they had uses beyond combat as well. When using them underwater, I learned that i could use them to propel myself underwater with the speed of a torpedo, with the silence of a stealth craft. Another bonus to this item were the red lines that traveled from the fans in a series of patterns across my entire body, allowing me to survive underwater.

When I talked to Kyogre before I left, he said that he knew the beast under Blackbeard's control. Kyogre described it as a vile beast that enjoyed feeding on smaller creatures, although it was also apparently pretty lazy most of the time to do anything except sleep. It was much more likely that it would be sleeping than actually caring about anything, unless there was food or a fight for it to have.

We decided that the best course of action would be to launch a preemptive attack as soon as I infiltrated the ship and moved toward the room where the prisoners were being kept. Before the fighting began, it was vital that I secure the hostages before the action starts. No way was I going to leave civilians unprotected in the midst of a major firefight.

In the end, everyone agreed with my decision. Using my Mightiest Pen Rill I camouflaged the ship to allow Drake to get as close to Blackbeard's ship as possible. Kyogre was waiting a bit farther away since there is always a chance the Bewilderbeast could actually detect him and start attacking or alarm the ships.

I push any concerns about the plan to the back of my mind. Instead I chose to focus on the most important objective for the moment, making sure that every innocent civilian is found safe and sound, and keep it that way.

I then noticed the form of Black Beard's ship a few leagues in the distance. However, I also saw something else. As I approached the ship I could see the creature sleeping beneath it. It was massive to the point where it just might rival Kyogre in terms of size, but slightly longer in legnth due to its tail. It looked quite menacing with its black scales and large tusks. Although, between it and Kyogre, it seemed to be missing something a way, it was almost like the Bewilderbeast was lacking a sense of greatness to it that Kyogre possessed.

In the end, I managed to sneak past the Bewilderbeast without arousing it from its slumber. Arriving on the underside of the ship I quietly and carefully placed myself directly under the ship. I extended my senses to detect ki and magic to see if anything was up there. When I was sure the coast was clear, summoned a nameless sword and used it to open a hole for me to enter the ship.

After getting inside I used the one fan to force back out the water that rushed in, and then waved them both together to encase the hole in ice. I needed to move quickly. The longer I stay here, the more likely that someone will stumble upon the hole and notice that something is wrong. I was not too keen on letting them know that I was here. At least not until I am sure that the hostages are safe. Thus, I quickly summoned Evil Poison Cape Gordon to sneak around the ship undetected.

Entering was easy enough. However, while I was making my way through the ship, a terrible scent assaulted my nose. It was a pungent and terrible odor that I recognize all too well due to some of the missions I worked back in my previous world.

The sound of crying and grunts of pain was enough to make me mad... no, not mad... I was down right furious.

I need to cut down whoever is doing what I know is happening. I know it is not something I would normally do. I do everything in my power to save others, even if it is a criminal. However, even I had my limits about what I was willing to tolerate. Once someone crosses a line like this, then they are no longer people. In my eyes, they are become nothing more than beasts.

And I can and will kill such beasts.

Without making so much as a sound, I approached the stairs. The area I am currently in is likely to be the ship's storage area as there are plenty of food stock and water barrels here. unfortunately, I noticed that the money and gold is not here so it is likely hidden somewhere else.

I make my way up the stairs, I noticed an open space and some cells on the upper floor. The sounds of the cries were becoming louder the closer I got and I had to use 120% of my willpower to not run in and end whatever is happening. For this sort of operation I must be careful in how I act.

Moving with my Gordon, I went deeper into the floor, quietly eliminating any pirate that was alone in the corridor of this marine fortress (seriously, even by ship standards this place was huge). I made sure to not let them notice me tuntil it was too late. I then moved the bodies out of sight and then cauterized the wounds shut to ensure that the blood did not coat the decks of the ship. A rookie mistake that some would have much more problem than I to deal with.

While using my Prideful Lion Spear Fuegoleon was a bit much, it would allow me to cauterize wounds instantly, as well as the fact that summoning it is relatively easy on my power reserves. Since my battle with Kyogre, I had managed to recover a sufficient amount of my energy back. I currently have the Prideful Lion Spear Fuegoleon in my right hand, the shield of Achilles Akhilleus Kosmos strapped in my left one which also had about 20 miniaturized Black Keys prepared just in case, but with my hand free in case I need it. I also had my Evil Poison Cape Gordon around my neck, Godly War Fan Kyogre was sheathed within my jacket as an extra precaution, Kanshou and Bakuya were kept close around my waist in holsters I had created, along with a bunch of my Throwing Daggers Finral hidden in key spots all over my person in the event I got into a sticky situation. I even had Time Emperor Deciding Gun Julius hidden in the back of my belt as a final trump card.

Some might say that holding so many powerful and deadly weapons may be a little overkill. However, one thing I have always disliked about my magic in my previous world was how the weapons degraded too quickly and I could never really prepare much beforehand as a result. However, in this world, the limits on my mana no longer existed. The fact that the weapons from my Weapons Creation Magic did not degrade at all with time certainly helped a great deal in making preparations beforehand.

Armed to the teeth, I finally reached the stairs to the floor above. As I got closer I could make out the sounds of a party going on. Most likely the pirates were celebrating their successful raid on Raque. Seeing that this was my chance, I quietly used a little trick I learned while training with Julius. I created a Bounded Field in a manner similar to the one used by Kiritsugu but instead of only serving to warn me of people entering the perimeter of the field, it also connected to a few Black Keys I put in several places for maximum coverage.

If anyone goes to this level, the alarm will sound for only me and the Black Keys will ensure that any who crosses it, receives a very unpleasant surprise, courtesy of the Black keys tips.

A cruel defensive line, but with my time limited, I had to do whatever it takes to secure the rooms on this floor as soon as possible. The longer I take the more likely things will spiral out of control.

With my traps set, I moved to the innermost room. It was the one closest to the stairs and it was one of the five where atrocities were taking place.

Getting in front of it, I did not wait to launch a bounded field that isolates sound in a specific area (another trick I learned from studying Kiritsugu's handiwork and from some tips of Julius to improve on it). Feeling my restraint slip away, I kicked down the door and upon entering the room I could only see red.

Dozens of woman and children in chains. A few were being abused just as I entered and the dead eyes of some of them looking at everything cut in my soul more than I would ever like to admit.

Not giving time for any of the scum to react I waved my hand, sending several Black Keys flying straight at their heads and bodies, piercing eight of them. Four of them managed to survive because they managed to raise magic enhanced shields in time. One of them even tried to use one of the prisoners as shield, a child that was crying for his mother. Of course, I anticipated this and quickly undid the weapon before it could hit the kid.

I needed to move fast before they decided to take more people hostage.

Reinforcing my body I moved in, dispelling Fuegoleon and drawing out Kyogre. While I am not that good with other weapons that are not swords, my reality marble is, ultimately, a depository for the history of hundreds of thousands of weapons, including the knowledge of how they were wielded. While I don't come anywhere close in terms of skill to the original owners, I am still capable of drawing draw upon their experience to know how to fight using them. This included information on how to use weapons like war fans.

Moving in with both fans open I moved to the one closest to me, which also happened to be the one who was holding the kid. He created a wave of water in front of himself but that was not a problem as I waved my left fan sending a burst of wind with just enough force to propel my body upward while spinning. Hitting the ceiling, I used it as a springboard to attack him from above, my leg striking with so much speed that the force behind it broke the pirates neck, allowing the kid to run away from the pirates.

The moment I landed, I dashed to another pirate who tried to attack me with blasts of magic, but I used my left fan to create a wall of wind, cancelling out the blasts with equal force. Getting in his guard, I channeled magic into my right fan, a sphere of water formed in the center, but as I waved, the sphere grew thin and coated the sharp edges of the fan. I swung up and a blade of water flew out of my fan.

With an audible thud, the man's head hit the ground.

Turning to the next, I close one fan and threw it towards the other pirate, He managed to jump to the side and avoided it as wrapped around a pillar, but when he turned to me he already saw Kanshou and Byakuya flying his way.

He hastily created a magic shield made of iron, Byakuya was barely stopped (I didn't put that much strength in it for fear of it piercing the ceiling and alerting the people from on the floor above us), while Kanshou flew past him. Just as he was about to attack his chest was pierced by Kanshou had flown across the room before changing direction and headed straight for the pirates exposed back in order to return to to Byakuya.

The last one had learned from the first person and tried to grab another hostage, this time it was a young woman. However, I noticed his intentions, and pulled on the chain connected to the other fan which was still wrapped around the pillar. The chains pqahsed out of the pillar and I pulled with all my might sending the command to the chains to retract.

As the chains neared the man who ran into their path without realizing it, I whipped the chain as it was passing by. THe force behind it snapped his leg causing him to trip.

The man cried out in pain, giving me the opportunity to dash forward, and before he realized it I was already behind him and had my hands around his head and neck. With an audible snap, I broke his neck and he fell to the ground dead.

As impossible as it may sound, this all took place within the time span of 5.

Sighing in relief, I turned to the people imprisoned in the room, who were all looking at me with mixed expressions, of awe, fear, and even hope.

"Please, don't worry people of Raque! My name is Shirou Kira Clover I. I swear that on my title as the royal prince and a magic knight of the Black Bulls squad I shall protect you all! Please, to those who can still move, carry those who cannot. If you head towards the stairs around the corner, it will lead you all to the basement. There you will all find food and water!" THe moment I finished speaking everyone started showing signs of life again. The more injured ones were all carried to the basement by the women and older children who still had the strength to do so. After a while the room was completely empty of people.

However, there was still something in the room that caught my eye.

As strange as it may sound, what caught my attention... was a fox.

It was lying in the back of the room covered with wounds. It honestly looked one step away from dying as I could barely sense any ki from it. It had some magic seals normally used on criminals and was immobilized by chains around its neck leg and a muzzle around its jaw. After looking more carefully I recognized an important detail that explained its current state.

It had a total of nine tails. An oddity that probably counted it as a magic beast. It is likely that the pirates captured it somewhere and intended to sell it later, but with the state it is in now I don't know if it will live even two hours from now.

I know I shouldn't use it here, but somehow my instincts were telling me to save this animal. Creating a copy of Kanshou, I used it to cut the chains to free the poor thing, while removing its muzzle. The sudden movement and lack of restraints woke the fox whose eyes shone with intelligence. It's gaze landed on me, and for a moment I saw the look of fear in its eyes. It tried to move, but every move it made caused it to flinch and cry out in pain. Eventually, it stopped moving and resigned itself to its fate. Looking into the eyes of this creature, I could not help but notice how they looked so sad and empty, as though it didn't have a reason to live anymore.

I hate those kinds of eyes. It reminds me of how I used to be.

I decided then and there, that there was not way that I was going to let this poor animal die. Putting my hand on my grimoire, I summoned Avalon.

"What is it that you need, master? If it is romantic advice I would recommend running while you still can." Avalon said as soon as she showed up. This spirit has gained more of a personality after traveling with me and Julius. Unfortunately, her personality is not exactly what you would call nice.

She often enjoys teasing me every chance she gets. It was almost like having another Rin by my side, only she was saltier and smaller.

"No, I need your help healing this poor thing." I said.

Avalon looked at the fox for a while before saying.

"Hoho, to think that would find something like this. I can't tell if your luck is excellent or trash, master. Oh well, at least I can get some giggles out of you anyway." before I could question Avalon, she disappeared in streams of light. The streams of light surrounded the fox, encasing it in its warm glow. The eyes of the fox opened up again, only this time, there was a new light in its eyes as looked up at me.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die here. Now rest, okay?" I said as gently as I could while petting its head. The sound of my voice, along with the soothing of my petting seemed to have a positive effect on the fox as its body quickly relaxed and it eventually fell asleep. As it drifted off I could not help but feel as though it was smiling.

After making sure that the fox was safe, I moved on to the next rooms. The others had much less people and some were empty. In the end, I was able to secure the rest of the hostages. I even asked some of the captives some questions to be sure there were not any stragglers. They informed me that in addition to hose on the current floor, they believed that there may be some captives located one or two in the floors above us.

After giving them the all clear to go ahead, I summoned Avalon back to me. Upon her return she assured me that the fox was sleeping soundly so I should not worry about it. Even so, I still went back to the room to see if it was okay. When I returned, I could see that its fur had gained a healthier and more beautiful sheen and its breathing had improved causing me to sigh in relief. I carefully moved it to the basement and gave it to some of the captives, requesting that they look after and avoid disturbing it. I then asked Avalon to heal everyone, while I prepared myself. As soon as I give the signal there will be pirates going down those stairs and it was my job to stop them all.

BBBOOOOOOMMMM

"ALL HANDS ON DECK! THERE ARE ENEMIES ATTACKING!"

A shout came from the upper floors, and that was my cue that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

* * *

Located high above the ship, a certain four leaf clover user was attacking the ship. While Yuno failed to find Shirou, he still managed to find the pirates. Without wasting any time, Yuno did not hesitate in the slightest in engaging the enemy combatants.

The first thing he did was summon a blade of wind to cut the sails, ensuring that it would not attempt to escape. He then proceeded to unleash a wave of miniature tornadoes unto his enemies.

Although, he entered the battle without a plan, Yuno's intelligence in combat could not be denied. Even though he was fighting against 20 pirates, he maintained an air of confidence and easily matched up against his opponents and did not even look tired as he dispatched them.

The words that Shirou had said to him before, greatly impacted him. Since they last spoke, Yuno underwent training to improve his control over his magic. As a result, both his control and power were now many times greater than ever before. In the past, he could only a control a tornado of about ten meters, but now he could unleash five smaller cyclones with the same level of power. He now was using the wind to redirect his opponents attacks. Several of them missed, but others he managed to redirect back to their casters. He reached a very high level in techniques in a manner of just a few weeks, even though he had not even been a magic knight for more than two months.

Suffice to say, the rate at which Yuno had grown was simply astonishing.

However, even though he had the upper hand, more and more pirates started showing up. Yuno soon pushed from the offensive to defend himself and dodge the overwhelming number of attacks that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Get them, BERSERKER!" A blur rushed by him followed by a violent gust of wind that sent him flying back. Yuno turned around and identified the blur as a muscled giant with dark-colored skin. The strange man roared and then went on a violent rampage, breaking everything in his path with a weapon that honestly looked like a slab of rock, and that tore through the ranks who could do nothing in the face of such overwhelming might.

Yuno was shocked as he saw Illya, Mimosa, Klaus, Puli, and Luck all board the ship. Although he would never admit this, he was glad that they arrived when they did. Their arrival helped to turn the tide of the battle to make it a more even fight... Well even may not be the right word, considering that Illya summoned two more berserkers (one being a black knight-like being with the ferocity of a beast but that killed any foe that got to close and the other being a 2 meters tall giant with innumerable scars, more muscles than should be biologically possible and leather straps tightly coiling his body and face) and they were basically defeating everyone without Illya, who stood back while in adopting a triumphant pose.

It was no wonder that so many people already considered her to be the future magic knight captain for the Blue Rose. The only problem she had with her magic was that the creatures she created would not listen to her commands and she was still vulnerable to attacks as she was lacking when it camr to physical strength. She was more of a 'I will destroy you first, and everything else for that matter' kind of girl.

Of course this means that Puli did not hesitate to catch the younger girl and pull her up away from the battle, before launching a barrage of feathers towards the enemy, with satisfying results.

While Yuno took this time to catch his breath, things immediately started to escalate. Without warning a giant shadow burst out from the sea. It was a gigantic dragon-like beast with dangerous eyes and a literally chilling presence, looking at it was enough to make the others fear it.

However that fear did not last for long.

As soon as it appeared a beam of ice struck its side with enough force to knock it to its side. In that moment, the previously calm ocean sky turned into a terrifying tempest that threatened to swallow everything in sight. The beast roared in rage as it got back to its fee, the water below it freezing in response to its growing rage turned to look and saw Kyogre looking at it. The latter's eyes and presence being strong enough to make even the Bewilderbeast seem insignificant, even though it was slightly bigger than Kyogre.

Feeling this provocation the Bewilderbeast roared in defiance calling forth an army to fight on its behalf. Unfortunately, the sea creatures it tried to summon fled in the opposite direction as Kyogre unleashed a thunderous bellow of its own, causing the other creatures to flee. Feeling infuriated the Bewilderbeast threw itself at Kyogre, while Kyogre waved its arms sending it flying out of the water and bashed its head into the Bewilderbeast's.

The force of their clash created a devastating shock wave that amplified the force of the already dangerous winds of the tempest brought about by Kyogre's presence. Then a ship equally just as large as Blackbeard's appeared from out of nowhere and the two ships started entered into naval combat while the magic knights cleaned the deck of all the pirates they could find.

Drake was commanding her ship to bombard Blackbeard's. As long as she could cause enough damage, that old scumbag would surely come out to face her. Besides, she was aiming more towards the upper levels as she knew that there was very little chance of there being hostages there. She only hoped everything was okay with the prince otherwise she might need to make a quick escape to some other country if things went south. Maybe she could try and sell her services in the Land of the Rising Sun. She had heard there were some problems happening there so it would not such a bad idea to try her luck there.

* * *

Honestly, things are not going well. Since the battle started, the pirates stopped their celebration and some decided to move down to where the hostages were hiding to try and use them against the magic knights. Luckily, te enemies that I fought with had been all grunts and were easily disposed of. However, I was aware of some of the limitations as a result of my current situation. At the moment, Avalon was busy healing some of the more seriously injured civilians, so I don't have access to her right now. Furthermore, while most of the pirates are weak there were still so many of them and I can't use most of my weapons for fear of breaking the ship.

I can only use anti-personal weaponry, which means I am abusing a whole lot of Kyogre as it is very fitting for this battle. Kyogre's range easily allowed me to attack multiple opponents, and not to mention that a majority of the pirates were users of water magic, wich put them at an even bigger disadvantage against me and Kyogre.

I am also using the shield of Achilles to help with defense. While I avoided using the shields powerful abilities, which would be overkill against my current opponents, I was still able to use it just like a regular shield. Even while not activated, the shield was still indestructible and could not be damaged by the lacks of the enemies before him.

"Gehehe, I guess we had a rat down here. How fun!" A voice came from above the stairs while I was holding back seven pirates

I was surprised to see all of my opponents go stiff as they heard the voice coming from upstairs. I did not hesitate to take advantage of this opening and so I cut them all down before they could properly react. Before I had a chance to identify the new enemy, I instinctively jumped back as holes appeared right where my head was instants ago.

"Phew, and here I was hoping you would go down like that." The male said as he came down the stairs.

He was wearing a captain-like coat styled in black and red, and a metallic claw attached around his middle finger of his right hand. He also had messy black hair, a sloven look like he has just woken up, and finally a a horrendously grizzly black beard. Judging by his appearance, I assumed that he must be the captain of this ship, Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard.

Unlike his subordinates, I could tell that this guy was going to be a problem. His ki is crazy strong and his magic energy doesn't lose out to any noble back in the capital. Even so, I had to defeat him. If he is here, then it means that there will be less burden on the others from carrying out their part of the mission and defeat the pirates with the least amount of injuries.

Steeling myself I entered a stance with both Fuegoleon and Leopold, although I modified Leopold and decreased its normal length. One long spear, one short spear in hand, I started emulating the fighting style of Diarmuid Ua Dubaine, the first warrior of the knights of Fianna. He was someone capable of matching Saber blow for blow in terms of technique, so I felt his style of combat would be ideal for my current situation.

Now that Blackbeard knows that I am here, I might as go all out.

With a smirk on my face reminiscent of Diarmiud himself, I jumped at Blakcbeard. A quick jab to the front was easily blocked by him as he created a small but sturdy shield of water. I used my other spear's ability to release a highly concentrated jet of flames at him.

The fire pierced right through his chest, but instead of pain he gave me a cocky smirk, before he burst into a mass of dark, murky water.

SHIT!

Turning back I darted towards the others. If he used this as a distraction he might have some way to enter from somewhere else!

Reaching them I saw that everyone was fine, I could not help but sigh in relief seeing that he was not here yet.

This at least leaves me with time to prepa-

BANG

"Ghaah." I cried out in pain as a hole appeared in the side of my stomach.

I heard the people behind me gasp in shock and fear, while I heard someone walking towards us. While holding my hand over the wound I saw Blackbeard slowly approaching with a swirling mass of dark water hovering over his palm. His smile spoke of the cruel intentions he had towards me and the people I was protecting.

"Gehehehe, to think that such a simple trick was enough to get you. How stupid can a normie be?! I just created a water clone to be destroyed and you thought I went pass you to reach them, leaving your back wide open! Really, normies are absolute idiots!"

I did not bother to answer him, I growled as I dispelled my spears and forced myself to stand. I dispelled my spears and summoned Kyogre. I waved my left fan to summon a wall of ice to protect the people behind me.

It was the only way to ensure that they would not be caught in the crossfire. However, doing this came at a cost.

BANG BANG

Two more holes appeared in my body. One in my stomach and one in my left shoulder.

Turning to my enemy, I stood tall even as blood started gushing out of my wounds. I fought through the pain and maintained my focus towards defeating the vile pirate before me.

Although my left arm is not working well, I was still able to use it to some degree. I once more summoned Fuegoleon and began rotating it continuously in front of me to block off a barrage of water bullet. I managed to defend myself by measuring his ki and using the experience of Diarmuid to block off the attacks until I saw an opening. Blackbeard, for just a second halting the flow of his attack, giving me the opportunity to use my left hand to grab one of my strongest weapons.

Blackbeard hesitated for a second out of shock as he saw me pull out my Julius and point it towards myself.

"Second Bullet: Time Accel!"

Combined with my reinforcement I became a blur and approached Blackbeard before he could react and with my spear aimed straight to pierce his heart.

CLANG

However, something stopped me. This time it was the strange object on his hand. It moved before I noticed it and defended him by blocking my strike.

Not willing to let things end like this I tried to move, but my body was already getting cold from losing so much blood.

Using Gordon, I opened up my cape and launched a wave of poison projectiles at him with one side while the other went to attack directly. He quickly created a wall of condensed water but it was useless.

In terms of penetrating power, the poison projectiles were quite weak. However, their true strength was their ability to leave behind a mist that permeate the air. In this case, upon coming in contact with water, they mixed together, creating an even stronger poison. As expected, Blackbeard's face started getting pale not long after. By the time he realized what I did, it was far too late as his body was being invaded by my poison. Even if he were to try and run away, he was well aware that I had plenty of opportunities to kill him when he turned his back to me. He stared at me with pure hate at me as he started coughing up blood.

To be honest, my own face should be much the same, but the high collar of my cape wrapped itself around my face, acting like a mask, preventing me from feeling the effects of my own poison.

"Heeh, interesting trick, brat. Now let's see if you can handle this! Water Creation Magic: Fury of the Caribbean Sea!" I tensed as I felt a large amount of mana being exerted from Blackbeard as a number of cannons made out of water appeared behind him, they covered the entire space behind him, each one charging mana aimed straight towards me.

"NOW DIE YOU BRAT!" Blackbeard yelled with sadistic glee as his cannons fired large blasts of mana at me.

However, I was not the least bit concerned wit this type of attack.

Putting my left hand with Akhilleus Kosmos in front of me, I activated it. Each of the blasts of water that could pierce through a navy vessel stopped in their tracks, but alarm bells rang in my head as I saw Blackbeard smirk with glee.

Using my ki I felt something amiss, and turning to look I saw one of the cannons by my ice wall, aiming right at my left side. Reacting quickly I took out Julius and shot my Time Stop Bullet, which unfortunately took away some of my focus in activating Akhilleus Kosmos, and as a result a part of its protection faltered causing one of the water bullets to break through. While the bullet only lightly grazed me, the force and pressure behind it still shredded away at certain parts of my body. Doing a quick Structural Grasp, I noticed that I had severe lacerations, two broken ribs, damage to my liver, as well as some damage to my intestines.

All in all, it could be worse.

However, it was still some serious damage, not just to me but to the ice wall behind me. If something like that happens again the civilians will get caught in the crossfire and that is something I was not about to let happen!

It looks like I have no choice, but to use that after all. I did not want to, but if I don't use it, I might take more damage and endanger the civilians. Worst-case scenario, the ship will sink, but with Drake's ship right by our side and with the help of the others and Kyogre it is likely that it won't be a problem.

My resolve set, I tapped into my remaining mana to pull out my secret weapon. I could only smile a bit as I recalled some fun memories about this particular weapon. It is the weapon that was used to create the Azetoth Sword that Rin carried and as such can be considered somewhat close to her. It also carried within it several mysteries behind the art of magecraft in its history, making it a true marvel.

As I am now, while I won't be able to draw out its full potential. but it should still be enough to have the desired effect.

Aiming it at Blackbeard I saw his face change as he felt the energy in the sword being aimed at him.

"Shi-"

"Let me show you my might." As I said that, all the magic energy in the vicinity was drawn towards and began to circulate around the sword. "True ether guides me... My obsessions, the form of my thoughts-" With every word I chanted, all the magic energy from my other weapons, the water magic of Blackbeard, my energy, and even the mana in the ambient became indistinct as if returning to the origin and transforming into its purest and primordial form.

"SWORD OF PARACELSUS!" And with that, the energy being drawn in and condensed was released in a massive explosion of light.

It is terrifying, truly a weapon worthy of being A+ Rank. Excluding Kiritsugu's gun, this Noble Phantasm was the epitome of a magus killer.

The Sword of Paracelsus is a sword that not only helps in all manners of magecraft, it also has a function where upon being fully activated, takes away all the magic energy around it including the one from the enemy's defenses and unleashes it in a massive blast of energy. It is a cheat-like blade that outright negates all forms of defensive magic and used the accumulated energy against the enemy.

The result of the blast was a bit less than what I expected. There were no traces of Blackbeard and while the the ship was not fully destroyed, the attack still passed right through the ship destroying the bow and everything else that was in its path. As the blast was aimed upward, the ship will not sink for a while.

Turning to the civilians behind me I saw that they were all safe, and even as I was losing strength due to blood loss I could only smile knowing they were fine. I ordered Avalon to come to my side and help heal my injuries. The last thing I remember was the concerned expressions of the captives before everything faded to black

* * *

Meanwhile, on the deck of Blackbeard's ship, the group of magic knights could only gap as they saw the destruction caused by Shirou's attack. Even when compared to the power of any of the knight captains, the energy used in that blast would at the very east be equal to or slightly stronger by comparison.

They all stood shocked for a second before they all came to the same realization.

For Shirou to use this type of attack, meant that he had to have been in danger!

Not long after that, everyone of started to move. Some went to find and protect Shirou, some went to ensure the safety of the civilians, while others like Luck and Yuno went to take care of the remaining pirates and secure any stragglers.

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **Thanks for reading, any suggestions are appreciated and I guess everyone already guessed who this hurt fox is ;)**

 **Also, do check out my newest story in my page. It is a Code Geass cross-over with many other animes and I hope you all will apreciate it, I even have a pool going for it and I would like your opinions and reviews for it as well.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and have a good day.**


	15. Chapter 14

The return trip to the mainland was quite the stressful experience for me. The others did their best to ensure that I did not overwork myself due to my injuries. I could not even move more than 1 centimeter out of bed without them freaking out. Usually they would say something like calling me a reckless idiot that might kill himself for no good reason. Honestly, I find their concerns to be somewhat exaggerated.

I mean, sure I went a little overboard and got myself injured, but it is not like I died or anything. Not to mention that Avalon is with me now, so there isn't a risk of something worse happening.

At least I know the civilians are okay. While I was out, the others helped to safely get them aboard Drake's ship. Another interesting thing that happened was the fox I found in Blackbeard's prison. I was told that since I was out, the fox somehow managed to find its way back to me. Apparently, once it found me, it glued itself to me and refused to leave my side, regardless of the others attempts to try and take it away.

I have been talking with the fox for a while now. I don't know why but I like talking to it and telling it whatever is on my mind. I could see that the broken eyes it had were quickly regaining signs of life and it was feeling more and more joyful with every passing second.

In order to try and alleviate my feelings of boredom, it tried to show me some tricks using its tails. Needless to say, I was not expecting what it did next. Somehow, the fox was able to use one of is tails to create something. I honestly never expected it would be an Ofuda (a special type of item, like a talisman, that is somewhat similar to runes in that they can produce different effects depending on how it is used and combined with other Ofudas).

I'll admit that when I first saw this skill in action, i actually jumped up in surprise. I could not believe my eyes at all. It was no easy feat in the slightest to create something from nothing and for this fox to create something with such ease, is an amazing feat regardless of what anyone says.

The fox showed me what I assumed was a fox's version of a smug face after seeing my reaction. If it had been human I bet this fox would be saying something along the lines of 'I am so amazing! That's right I am'. Well, considering it had created an item like this so quickly it deserved to act as smug as it wanted to.

For some reason, I feel like this fox needs this victory. So I just smiled and patted its head before deciding on my next course of action.

I accept that I needed to rest, but I will at least do it in a way that makes me comfortable... like making some good food!

"Weapon Creation Magic: Evil Poison Cape Gordon."

I used my magic to create Gordon's cape. Using it, I quietly made my way towards the kitchen. The fox continued to follow and was dedicated in accompanying me no matter where I go, so I picked it up and held it close as I walked to my destination. At first, it trembled a bit when I touched it, but it quickly calmed down once I held it close to my chest, and showed a blissful smile. I decided not to think much too about it and just hugged it tighter as I made my way to the kitchen.

When we finally arrived, I was relieved to see that no one else was present, allowing me full reign of the kitchen. I first started off by cutting up some onions and adding other seasonings. Following that, I picked up the rest of the unused ingredients after deciding to use those that would be thrown away to cook a few dishes for me and my new companion.

After grinding the bones and head of a tuna, I mixing it with guts, pulverizing the two together. I then added some flour and used the rest of the vegetables to mold them into little balls and then deep fried them in hot oil.

Taking the tomatoes with wounds that were discarded, I used structural analysis to identify exactly where the damage was and what parts of the tomato were still good for consumption. With the usable parts, I created a special tomato sauce blended with an assortment of vegetables and spices, as well as some high quality beef.

Seeing that the deep fried serving was almost complete, I accelerated my pace to put together some rice and used pieces of carrots and other vegetables to cook with the rice and the seasoning I prepared before.

Removing the fried dumplings from the oil, I completed the dish for me and my little companion who was practically drooling at the sight of the dish.

I smiled at the cute expression it had as I added the finishing touches to its dish. I even made it a point to give it extra portions of meat and dumplings.

I put the dish down in front of it and it carefully approached the dish, taking in the scent of the dish. It looked like it was not sure it should eat it, but I could only laugh from how human-like this fox's expressions were.

"Don't worry, I made these for you too. Now eat up, you're probably exhausted and need to eat to recover your full strength. If you want more don't hesitate to tell me." I said, and not long after it started eating with a voracious appetite. I laughed when I saw this and as it was about to finish I gave it my plate to eat too.

It looked at me with a quizzical look in its eyes, "Here, I am used to not eating large amounts of food and I only need this right now." I said picking up an apple that was on the side and started eating it.

From what I could see, it appeared to show some concern for my lack of nutrition. I could identify that easily since I saw such expressions way too often while growing up with Taiga in my previous life and from Klaus, Fuegoleon, and Nozel whenever I did something slightly (in my opinion) dangerous.

I just laughed and continued with my apple as the little fox finished its meal.

"… I see that you still insist to refuse to listen to anything we tell you, your majesty." I was so distracted that I didn't even noticed he had arrived until he was standing behind me.

"*SIGH*, Please don't get mad Klaus. I just wanted to make a little something for my adorable new companion. It shouldn't be that big of a deal." I argued in a poor attempt to defend my actions, but that did not deter Klaus from pointing his finger right in my face. What followed next was a long lecture about how inappropriate my actions were, that I should have looked for help first, and how my own security should have been my first priority, as well as that I should at the very least have stopped treating the injured civilians while fighting so as to preserve my mana and to heal myself better.

Of course, I pretty much tuned out most of what he was saying. I do agree that the fight could have gone better, but it is not like I could have stopped treating them since there were so many who were seriously injured and were at death's door. If I had left their treatment unfinished, I could have caused more harm than good, or even worse, they might have still died then and there. I also couldn't risk stopping to call for help as it would have given Blackbeard an opening to reach the civilians.

In the end, seeing how talking about this to me was more or less useless, Klaus could only sigh as he moved on. He then suggested to me that if I really can't stop myself from moving, at least go and talk to the civilians. We are still three hours away from Raque and they are all restless despite knowing they are all safe.

I nodded in agreement to Klaus suggestion and walked alongside him to where the rescued citizens were currently resting, while the fox followed close behind me with a curious look.

"Your majesty," Klaus said. "Why is it that this animal is following you around like that?"

"Klaus, this pretty fox here is just following me, you shouldn't worry about it. Also, just how many times did I tell you to just call me Shirou? We are friends, remember?"

"B-b-but this would be inappropriate! We are close to the civilians and soldiers. If a rumor were to spread that one of the magic knights were talking to you so freely it could ruin your image!"

"I don't care about that. I already have so many rumors and gossip surrounding me that I doubt something like that would have any real impact. Besides, I would never feel embarrassed about the fact I am friends with someone. And if anyone has a problem with that, then I don't care." I said without hesitation. Honestly, Klaus and I have this sort of talk all the time and he never gets it. He is just as hard headed as I am I suppose. Maybe that is why we are friends.

Deciding not to speak about it anymore Klaus started explaining to me more about what happened while I was out.

After I defeated Blackbeard, I was found by the others, which I could faintly remember somewhat. Following that, Mimosa started emergency treatment on me while taking me back to the ship, while the others moved the civilians away from the slowly sinking ship. By the time every civilian was safely aboard Drake'S ship and the remaining pirates were captured by the naval forces, Drake and her men started pillaging whatever they could from the sinking ship. Even after it completely sank, Drake made some of her men use their water and air magic to move underwater and continue with the work of salvaging anything of value hidden aboard Blackbeard's ship.

After that was done, we all started going back to the mainland. I was still sleeping but there were a lot of people that wanted to thank me for what I did, even if it was only my obligation as far as I am concerned. They were making a ruckus even as Mimosa, Illya, and a fat magic knight woman tried to calm them down and even now they are quite agitated. According to what Klaus said, they were all being well fed and well cared for. I was even happier to hear that here were no more wounded amongst them. They were even allowed to stretch their legs and walk a bit in the sun if they wanted to. Of course, not everyone was allowed on deck, since it was not big enough for everyone to stay there, and could complicate the functions of the ship.

When we finally arrived at the area where the civilians were located I was left speechless. The reason? The mob of people that swarmed towards me the moment I walked into the room. A lot of them were all trying to talk to me to voice their gratitude to me for my role ins saving them from Blackbeared and his crew. More than a few people even tried to remove my clothes to see if my wounds had healed (at least I hope that was the reason. The fact that it was mainly women who did that and that their faces were bright red really didn't inspire confidence).

Klaus, if there was any time that I needed your help, this is it!

…Why are you standing on the side laughing? And why is it that Illya and Mimosa are there laughing too?

Help me, I have no clue in how to deal with PR, I'd rather hunt dead apostles than this!

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

As the others saw Shirou desperately trying to interact with more than a hundred people at the same time they could not help but smile.

"Seeing Onii-chan like this is refreshing." Illya said. "He is always either causing or getting himself into trouble. At least with this, it will count as his punishment for going to the Black Bulls instead of our Blue Rose."

"I don't know. He seems to be really troubled doing this, maybe this is a bit too much of a punishment for him." Mimosa said before blushing a little. "But his troubled face is cute too."

Klaus only smirked knowing that at least Shirou would not be able to get himself into any trouble, while he was busy trying to deal with this mess. His only regret right now was not having been able to eat the lunch Shirou made. His food was divine to say the least and to think this food was all eaten by a fox, how troublesome.

Speaking of said fox it was looking at Shirou and had something like content in its eyes, like it was happy, or even relieved for some reason. As if a weight on its back was being removed.

Not that anyone noticed that slight difference, for them it was just a pet that decided to follow Shirou around after he healed it. They only noticed how it sometimes appeared angry when one or more woman of the crowd tried to know if Shirou was okay if they touched him for too long, but it didn't react much when they tried to remove his shirt as the fox only gave a very predatory smile. That is to say it was not one that showed an intent to kill, but definitely predatorial.

Meanwhile, Sol and Vanessa were in a cabin with buckets at their sides, feeling ashamed and very pale (even for Sol's tan skin) faces as hey turned to each other.

"We were pretty useless, right Vanessa-san?"

"Yeah, yeah we we-" And that was as far as she managed to go as she again felt her stomach trying to fight itself again.

The two made a pact, then and there. Never again will they go out to the sea, This place was hell.

On the other hand, two people were quite well in the sea, namely Yuno and Luck.

The two were currently engaged in combat as if they were trying to kill one another, mainly because Luck challenged Yuno and Yuno refused to lose to anyone, especially to someone from his rival's squad, regardless of what the fight was about. It could be said that they were a match made in hell, the two most stubborn people that should have never met had and so it was unavoidable that they were now fighting for absolutely no reason.

Well, if anyone asked either the cyclone or the blue blur trying to hit the cyclone they would say something like this.

"We are fighting because I want to win."

Truly, two halves of the same crazy coin.

* * *

Back in the city hundreds of relieved sighs were heard, so many people were relieved from knowing that they had finally returned on solid ground they so missed, but amongst them, the happiest were likely Vanessa and Sol. The two were the first to jump of the ship and proceeded to roll around on the non-rocking surface of the land.

"I can't believe how happy I am to be on the solid ground again. I needed this more than I ever thought." Sol literally dropped to the ground in relief, while trying to hug the earth.

Vanessa then ran back to the ship and started kicking it and yelling.

"NEVER AGAIN!"

That was as far as she got before Drake appeared behind her and started tightly gripping her head and giving her an intense death glare complete with a sinister smile causing Vanessa to chuckle weakly.

In the distance Finral, who was already waiting to take everyone to their respective bases, saw his fellow knights antics and did not know if he should laugh or not. He wanted to laugh, but his survival instincts warned him not to.

Behind the two girls came the hordes of civilians, all crying tears of joy as they were reunited with their families and friends. Some were still scared and a few were wounded in ways that no magic could heal, but the feeling of being reunited with your love one would at least help to lessen the pain.

Meanwhile Shirou was on the other side of the crowd of people, Kyogre had returned to his small form and was flying around Shirou while in a bubble of water.

"So you really will come with me? I would have thought that you would prefer to remain in the ocean. It is your natural environment after all" Shirou said surprised. From the little time of interaction he had with the sea beast, he came to know some a little more about it.

The first thing he learned was that it had lost a lot of its original power due to so many years without a partner. He and a few other such creatures were known as divine mounts. They lived by the side of those they consider worthy of being their partners and the stronger and longer a partner lived with them, the stronger they would become.

Kyogre was originally the partner of the sea god, an exceedingly powerful being that could dominate all of the world's oceans. Due to how powerful Kyogre's past partner was, even after he left Kyogre managed to maintain his powers for a long time. However if he had continued to remain alone he might have deteriorated to the point where he would regress to an egg-like state until it found someone worthy of being its partner. Kyogre feared such a fate as it claimed that his absence could could cause a natural imbalance which would inevitably result in serious problems for people on both land and sea.

Shirou also learned that the reason why he attacked him in the first place was to get more energy to sustain himself longer. Normally, Kyogre hated pirates and would have eliminated them long ago. However, he was not 100% confident that he could have eliminated them all without sacrificing a lot of his power to take care of the Bewilderbeast. However, he then ran into me, who possessed an abundance of mana. Although, he did not expect me to put up such a fight resulting in his loss and me becoming his partner. Thanks to our new bond, he should be able to eventually regain his full strength in time.

However, SHirou was still a bit hesitant to let him come with him seeing as Kyogre's natural habitat was the ocean.

"Idiot, you are my partner now. Why would I just leave you here to wander off somewhere? Besides, you said your friend knows space magic so I could come back to the ocean whenever I want. Also, this would make the hiding troublemakers show up and let me end them properly." That last part of Kyogre's speech was more than a bit ominous, but Shirou decided not to say anything. Kyogre would know how to deal with the sea better than him anyway.

Sighing, he prepared himself for what was to come. As the future king of the Clover Kingdom, it was his duty to address the people who suffered as a result of Blackbeard's actions. It was his duty to reassure the people and inspire confidence that everything would be okay.

However, Shirou was feeling so nervous that he would prefer facing off against Gilgamesh instead of giving a speech. He was never really big on public speaking, nor did he enjoy being praised for doing the right thing.

Taking a deep breath, he moved to the border of the ship. He tried to emulate the speeches of kings that he had recorded in his Reality Marble. The most useful ones he could fins that fit his current circumstances were that of Iskandar. After all, no other king was as passionate and understood the heart of the people as he did.

Using a little reinforcement magic towards his vocal cords, Shirou amplified his voice to catch the attention of the people gathered at the port.

"Citizens of our great nation of Clover, my name is Shirou Kira Clover I, the crown prince and future king. I stand before you all today to tell you one thing," Shirou stopped for a second so that everyone could focus their attention on him.

Then without warning, everyone present gasped in surprise and shock as SHirou did something no one would have ever saw coming.

Shirou bent his body a perfect 90 degrees as he bowed before the people in front of him. "I apologize to all of you for this failure."

After saying that he stood tall again, a feeling of charisma washing over him as he continued talking. "We of the magic knights and nobles should have been able to stop the enemy from ever attacking you. However, we were far too confident of our power and in the end, we were unable to arrive in time to prevent the attack. I want to tell you all that this will never happen again, that this sort of tragedy will never happen no matter what, but I can't in good conscience say that. We will try, and we WILL stop those threaten you the people... but we are not omnipresent. Now I ask you all, will you allow this reality to continue? Will you all be in peace knowing that this might happen again?

I know I won't. That is why I will continue to fight, just as the kingdom that gave birth to us all will continue to fight. No matter what, we will continue to prove to this entire world that no one can mess with Clover kingdom and get away with it. I will continue to defend this country and our people until my final breath, so never doubt that there is someone out there that wants to help you.

I am here, the magic knights are here, the Magic Emperor is here, the royal family is here and if anyone thinks that they can do whatever they want in our home-" Shirou raised his hand to the air and with a flash of light he summoned the legendary blade Clarent, the symbol of the right to succession and a blade that amplified his kingly aura to its maximum potential. The aura emanating from the sword spoke of power and regality. Its mere presence cast out the doubts and fears of the population replacing them with hope and awe.

"If any such idiot tries anything, I will be there to put a stop to it. Never forget, we will be here and we will do everything in our power to keep you, the people of Clover safe. And if you have the confidence, please try and become one of us too. We need more fighters, and your help may be the turning point that ensures that tragedies like what happened here will never happen again." Shirou said, he wanted to try and make them feel relieved about the fact that they would do better but he alone couldn't decide everything for them.

He may be a prince, but being able to assign magic knights to specific locations was unfortunately not within his power to command, at least for now anyway. He always beleived that if everyone in this world had magic powers, then the number of magic knights is just too low in comparison. The sheer number of people that could become magic knights is staggering, but there is hardly anyone who tries to make this happen. The truth of the matter is that there are far too few magic knights in the ranks of the Clover Kingdom. If they had more forces, they would have a stronger presence in more parts of the empire so that enemy invasions and attacks would decrease in frequency.

It was a bit shameless to request this from people who just went through horrifying ordeal, but Shirou could see that in their eyes, especially of the children, a fire had been lit as they were inspired to become magic knights too. Once he saw this, Shirou was confident that the number of people interested in becoming a magic knight in the future would definitely increase.

What Shirou did not expect, however, was the sound of clapping and cheers from the civilians. He never experienced that in his previous life, he was always someone who never stood around to be acknowledged by others for what he had done and much less someone to feel so loved by the masses. This experience made Shirou a bit uncertain of what to do, but he stood tall and decided to yell

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

With just those three words alone, the entire port erupted in a symphony of cheers that shook the very earth.

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

"Clover Kingdom Forever!"

"CLOVER KINGDOM FOREVER!"

The other magic knights could not help but smile seeing this, even the most hard-headed (A.K.A. Yuno and Luck) were smiling from ear to ear and some even had slight traces of tears in their eyes as the sight before them fueled the patriotic flame blazing in their hearts.

For those standing in the crowd of civilians and those among the military of magic knights, this would be a moment that no in attendance would ever forget the feeling of hope and victory that permeated through the air on that day.

* * *

A few hours later, all the Magic Kinghts sent to Raque had returned to their respective bases. As soon as they arrived home, Shirou went straight to his room where he collapsed on his bed while clutching his head.

'That was the worse'. Shirou could not help the terrible and stressful feeling he felt after giving such an embarrassing speech. Well embarrassing to him at least. Sure, at the time he enjoyed the feeling a little, but now he wanted nothing more than to forget the events that took place that day. The worst part was that he was pretty sure that Yami would mock him to no end when he comes back from his 'serious mission', which was just another way of saying that he went out to gamble.

Seriously, someone who has such terrible luck should know better than to go out to try to gamble away his entire salary.

Not to mention that even without Yami, I still had my fair share of problems here. Asta and Noelle being a few of them.

Following our return, Asta keeps asking me about details of the fight, that I was not really in the mood to repeat and Noelle started lecturing me about why I shouldn't go around and sacrificing myself so easily for others. It is almost like she tries to act like a petite copy of Nozel when it comes to the moments that she tries to act noble and regal.

And speaking of Nozel, I just know he will be wanting to chew me alive when he hears of what I did, with Fuegoleon possibly wanting to do the same.

Curse my E rank luck, I blame Archer for this.

Anyways, after we got back I immediately got to work on another task that required my attention. I decided to go ahead and create a lake not too far from the base. I understand that making a lake sounds like it would be a complex and highly difficult project, but the truth is that it was actually quite simple. I just chose an area close to the base and made a giant hole in the ground using a highly concentrated blast from Caladabolg. That sword is well known for having leveled mountains with a single swing, so using it to open a big hole in the ground isn't even that difficult by comparison.

I also talked to Kyogre about how we would handle filling the hole. The thought of using his ability to summon rain to fill it up came to mind, but it also presented another problem. He explained that while it was possible for him to stop making it rain while he slept or by holding back his power for a while, it was impossible to control the amount and the area where it affects. I plan to talk to father about starting a construction project to create river canals originating from this spot to other areas around the kingdom. The excess of water that would be a problem would instead be used to irrigate farms and provide proper water to the population all around.

Knowing father, he would not hesitate to do it as long as the lake where it originates (where Kyogre will be staying) is called something like 'Royal Kira Clover the Great' lake or something like that.

However, I will talk to him about this tomorrow when I visit the capital. At the same time, I think I will also work to show both Fuegoleon and Nozel that I am okay and no longer injured. Seriously, it was crazy how exagerated they could be when it comes to my well being. I still remember when they once almost had a heart attack after I lightly scrapped my knee when I was a kid. Those two are far too overprotective of me.

NUDGE NUDGE

I look at the side of the futon and see that the fox is still here. It is looking embarrassingly side to side without knowing where it was supposed to go.

Poor thing, it must be tired after everything that happened.

Thus, I did not hesitate to pick it up and pull it with me into my bed. Of course, the fox was surprised and initially started to struggle as soon as I did that but I am far too tired to care right now.

"Sorry about that, but the only thing I have to sleep on is this futon and I can't just let you wander the base alone", it stopped struggling and looked at me with what I could swear was akin to doubt. "Come on don't look at me like that. The last thing I want is for you to get injured because of the unruly antics of this base's residents, or get yourself outright eaten by Charmy." This time the reaction was a bit different, while it looked in disdain when I said it might be hurt, it showed signs of fear when I mentioned Charmy.

I guess it was mostly because of the fact that when we got back, the first thing that Chamy said when she saw it was 'Fox stew, how delicious!', might be to blame for that.

"Don't worry, I will protect you so rest well okay?." I said before allowing myself to nod off. Of course, Shirou did not notice the fox as it seemed to nudge closer to him and curled up close to his side sleeping with a peaceful expression on its face.

That night Shirou also failed to notice the faint flash of light that briefly lit up his room.

* * *

The next morning

Finral yawened as he made his way through the base with the task of waking up is fellow members. Yami had given him the task of waking up the other members and to get them ready for the following morning. Apparently, he had a mission planned for some of the Black Bull's.

Anyway, Finral was confident he would not be chosen for this mission regardless so he simply went ahead and started waking up the others. Natutraly some of them were not so eager to get up.

He sighed as he was forced to dodge a few punches or kicks by some of them. The only one not pissed at him for waking them up was Luck. Even so, the guy still went ahead and tried to beat up Finral.

Now there was only Shirou left, but he was confident that he would be the easiest to deal with. Shirou was a close friend and someone that constantly wakes up early, so he was confident that he would no be upset with him waking him up.

However, when he opened the door he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him.

The first thing he saw was fur, lot's of fur. What followed after was the sight of the most beautiful and sexiest woman he has ever seen. Her clothing was foreign to him. It consisted of long sleeves that were quite loose and tied to her forearms showing off her shoulders, black thigh highs that showed of the woman's beautiful legs. He recognized it as a tight blue kimono (Yami had once told him about them, something Finral enjoyed since he said women don`t wear underwear with them) that had a low cut showing off her cleavage as well as being quite long onward but with two big gashes that ran down the sides of her legs to show it off even more. She had long bright red hair in twin tails that made her somehow even more charming, as well as... wait... are those fox ears on her head?

But even so, looking at her sleeping besides Shirou with a content smile on her face Finral could only take a deep breath before yelling at the top of his lungs.

"EVERYONE, COME QUICKLY! SHIROU IS FOOLING AROUND WITH A GIRL AND-"

That was as far as he got before Asta, Noelle, Vanessa, and Magna shoved him aside by how fast they were moving. It was faster than when Finral teleported. Finral groaned in pain and gave a sharp cry as he was stepped on by Chamy, which was enough to make Finral pass out, with thoughts of betrayal flashing in his head.

The commotion they caused was so loud that both Shirou and the girl woke up. Shirou's eyes went wide with surprise when he saw the woman laying down on top of him. Don't get him wrong, he was someone with plenty of experience with the opposite sex from his last life so being around a woman in bed wasn't exactly new. However, even then he was not expecting the breathtaking sight of the girl before him.

When he looked at her he took a moment to notice her animal parts, but before he could even ask about them-

PUFF

She released some type of magic smoke from an Ofuda before disappearing. No one could detect where exactly, but Shirou could lightly make out her ki in the distance. Plus, even with the distance she made, he could still make out her scent. It was impossible for him to not notice the scent of this mysterious vixen. As strange as it sounded, the association he made with her fragrance was that it reminded him of the gentle embrace of the sun on warm summer day.

Feeling as though his life would only get more complicated if he did not figure out what was going on, Shirou promptly ignored the others questions and jumped out of the window to go find wherever the fox girl was and try to understand the circumstances behind her unexpected arrival.

In the room where he had just run away from, the crowd could only watch with a confused expression as they were unable to make sense of what had just transpired. It was especially shocking for Noelle as she knew Shirou too well to know that he would not just go to bed with some mysterious woman that she has never heard off, but even so, she could not help the feelings of jealousy that coursed through her entire being. The menacing aura around Noelle was so strong that everyone else took a step back, except for Chamy who was trembling in rage as she kept muttering about not having her breakfast as the cook had run away.

Finral, who had by now regained consciousness, did not know if he should hate Shirou for being so popular with women in general, a trait Finral knew for a while now even if the prince in person did not realize his own luck, or if he should feel pity for Shirou due to having such troublesome and terrible luck. But then Finral remembered how sexy and beautiful the fox girl was, and he went right back to hating Shirou's 'hottie' status.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

I have no idea what is going on. Last night I went to sleep with a ox in my bed, and then this morning I woke up to find a strange woman hugging me while I slept.

It seems almost impossible that I did not notice her enter my room. I am constantly on guard, even when asleep. For someone to enter my room undetected like that should be neigh impossible. And yet there she was when I woke up.

As we woke up and she looked me in the eyes I could see happiness, but after she saw me open my mouth and looked at herself I could clearly see it. The emptiness of her eyes, much like how mine once were that night in that terrible fire. The eyes of someone that lost everything.

I can also feel it now that I am closer and paying more attention to the mana of this mysterious woman. The warm scent of the sun was soon replaced with the cold feeling of shame and self-hatred to unbearable levels.

It is almost like this woman is sad about everything and there is nothing left inside her except that. This feeling alone is more than enough for me to forgo my previous questions and instead focus on making her feel better, just like Kiritsugu did for me so long ago.

After running for a while, I finally found her. The woman is truly beautiful, breathtakingly so, but her face is covered in tears as she... oh no you won't!

Jumping at her I stopped her from bringing her arm down which held a bloody jagged rock, which was aimed for one of her bruised and bleeding tails.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I yelled at her leaving her stunned.

"Self-mutilation and inflicting pain on yourself... Why would you do such a thing?!" my emotional outburst came before I even realized it. She was even worse off then I had thought. To do something as horrifying as trying to mutilate your own limb like that. If I had arrived any later she may have done something beyond stupid that she would have regretted for the rest of her life.

I saw cases of people that did such a thing in the past. Self-mutilation is not as uncommon as I would have liked in my previous world but the fact of the matter is that regardless of the reason for doing such action to yourself was just wrong. I still remember all the pain and despair of those who suffered from injuries they could never heal.

I tore off pieces of my shirt, and proceeded to wrap them around the injured area of her tail, making sure to not make it to tight and cause her more discomfort r touch anywhere closer to her perky bu... no, no stop acting like a hormone filled teenager Shirou! You are a grown man in a teenager body but that is still no excuse. Anyway, this would have to do until we could properly fix her wound.

"Please... let me be... I am just a monster. Please don't look at me." she said while covering her face, it was clear that she has experienced very deep psychological trauma and that treating her would not be easy, but I still had some things to say to her.

"Okay firstly, stop calling yourself a monster. Anyone that feels as sad as you and that is acting like you is no monster at all... a real monster would never act in such a way." Images of Gilgamesh and Kirei flashed in my head. Without question, those two are my personal definition of what a 'monster' is. "Second, I don't care what or rather who you. What I do want to know is how you ended up in my bed this morning... although we can get to that later. Lastly, stand up. We are going back to the Black Bulls base and I will prepare something for you to eat, a healthy mind starts with a healthy body so I will make sure that you are treated properly. Now come on, we are going."

As I said that I noticed that she was doubtful on how to act so I moved. With my hand I propelled her up before leading her by hand, she initially tried to resist and refused to follow me, but I promptly ignored what she was trying to say as she kept repeating to just leave her alone and things like that.

Although despite her claims, I could feel that she was not resisting as much as she claimed and I could hear that sound of desperation in her voice. Not desperation for me taking her back, but rather desperation laced with hope that I would not leave her.

I would be dammed before I did such a thing. As a future hero of justice, how could I leave someone behind when their eyes were screaming to me that they needed help?

* * *

 **Writer's Note:**

 **I am sorry if this chapter took a bit longer than normal to update. I have been quite focused on my new story and the fact that my Beta have his own life problems to take care off makes it even harder to release faster.**

 **Anyway, leave me your thoughts and the next two chapters will delve on the past of Tamamo who honestly is quite sad even in CANON Fate.**


	16. Chapter 15

When we finally arrived back to the base, the other Black Bull members were all there waiting anxiously for me at the front entrance. Before they could ask him if he was okay, there attention was immediately drawn towards the woman I was gently guiding towards the base. The first one to move was, without much surprise, Finral.

"Shirou! What did you do to make this cutie cry?! How insensitive were you!?" He said as he teleported using one of his portals right in front of me. I was honestly not in a good enough of a mood to deal with his or anyone else's antics at the moment. Not only did I wake up this morning with a complete stranger hugging me, I also had to run after said person AND arrive just in time to witness and further prevent her from doing something clearly stupid.

Without saying a word I turned to address Finral and gave him a glare that would make Nozel proud. The moment he and everyone else saw this, they stoped talking for they knew that the person in front of them was not a fellow Black Bull, but the future ruler of their kingdom.

"Kitchen, now!"

"Y-yes sir!" He said instantly saluting and nodding his head.

As the portal opened, I pulled the girl in with me. She stopped struggling as I offered her one of the kitchen's chairs which she accepted. While I was busy preparing everyone's breakfast, for her and everyone else (Charmy is probably mad with hunger by now), I noticed how she still seemed qite nervous and was anxiously fidgeting on her seat.

However, that anxiety diminished once the scent of my cooking wafted through the hall. From her expression, you would think that I had prepared a dish of the highest quality with the rarest ingredients known to man. However, the truth was that the dish I prepared was really a simple one.

In front of me stood, a platter filled with pancakes, along with plenty of jelly on the side, a fruit salad with plenty of options that I obtained on Raque with some discounts, courtesy of one of the vendors, who I helped save (even so I still left a tip worth twice as much), along with a variety of beverages that appealed to everyone's tastes. I also put a cake in the oven for those who may want to snack after breakfast and with that all done I turned and put the mystery girl's breakfast in front of her.

"Eat for now, it is highly nutritious and I hope it tastes good for you. After that you can tell me what is on your mind, okay?" I said trying to give her the best smile I could, but she still looked a bit empty and when I tried to push the food closer to her she almost jumped back in fright.

Sigh. I should have expected that this would not be easy and that she would need some time to recover from whatever it is that she has been through.

Anyways, now that she is here I will be sure to keep an eye on her. (I made sure to pull any and all knives away from her, while she wasn't looking).

Thinking that I started moving the rest of the food to the table. The moment I put the plate filled with enough pancakes to make a small mountain on the table Charmy ran into the mess hall and started devouring the food with insatiable gusto.

I chuckled at the scene, it would seem that my thirty pancakes will not be enough at all. Well, at least she is happy eating it and I am sure the others will be too so I don't really have much to complain. I am just happy that everyone is happy.

I stepped back into the kitchen to continue to cook while keeping an eye on the fox girl and kept her close with me in the kitchen so I could keep an eye on her. She did not eat for quite a while as the conversations continued, but I did notice how her ears would twitch every once in a while, which made me think that she was attentively listening to what everyone was saying.

"So, do you think she and Shirou did that?" Finral asked suggestively, whicha lmost made me drop the utensil in my hand, while Noelle lared at him in response.

"No! If course he didn't." Noelle said firmly.

"But how are you sure? He did just come back from a great battle and there is a trend involving men going after pretty girls after a fight like that, it is just logical." Finral said. "Besides, she is such a cutie."

"Are you sure? Cause I really don't see it." Asta said with his mouth full of pancake.

"Wha? How can you even say that?! Those legs, that face, those breasts, they're all perfect! How can you not think she is pretty?!" Finral asked in a loud voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I snuck a glance at the fox girl and I smiled a little at the sight of the small trace of a confident smirk. I guess she does take pride in her appearance.

"Sister Lily is prettier." Asta said offhandedly before his eyes started to shine. "SHE is the prettiest and most amazing woman ever, and when I become a magic knight I am sure she will agree to marry me!"

Meanwhile, Noelle was grumbling about something while eating quietly. Gauche was looking at the mirror image of his sister as he said.

"No, the prettiest and most perfect one is definitely Marie, but if any of you even look at her I will gouge out your eyes."

Ignoring the grumbling of Gauche, Vanessa added her own two cents to the conversation.

"But I gotta say, she really is strange. Why does she have those tails and ears?"

"Who cares? She is cute and hot, and that is more than enough. I just hate that Shirou got to that beauty before me." Finral said.

"Hey, hey, do you think she is strong?" Luck, who had just busted into the mess hall said with a wild smile. "If so, do you think she would mind fighting against me to the death? It would be so fun!"

"Would you drop that idea?" Noelle said while taking a lock of her hair and pushing it out of her shoulder. "She is, as infuriating as it may be, Shirou's guest. Fighting her without good reason would not be rude and reflect poorly on Shirou, now sit down and eat."

"Eehh, but I wan-"

Luck was about to protest, but was stopped as Charmy forced it inside his mouth with a smile.

"Come on and eat, this food is soooooo gooood." And with that, the loudmouth stopped talking.

The conversations continued for a while, until after everyone ate their fill and Asta slammed the kitchen door open to talk to me.

"Shirou! When is our next tr...Why is she doing that?" looking over my shoulder I could see that the fox girl in question had backed out to as far away as she could. Her eyes had a frightened look to them. It was not too hard to figure out what had happened. As she had been relatively close to the door, Asta's sudden entrance and loud voice scared her. Asta seemed to realize his mistake and tried to reach out and talk to her, but when he tried to move closer even slightly she would flinch.

Seeing this I approached Asta and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave this to me Asta, we can talk about your training later, but for now can you tell the others to not come here or disturb us?"

"Yeah s-sure", Asta looked confused at first, but then he seemed to understand what I was trying to do and he nodded his head. He departed from the kitchen, but not before he looked back and gave the fox woman an apologetic look. After Asta left, the fox woman calmed down, but still refused to move, keeping her head firmly between her knees as she sat on the floor. I made my way towards her and knelt down while keeping a little distance between us. She did not look up at me, but the sight of her ears twitching told me that she knew I was there.

"... Why? Why are you trying to treat me well?" She asked with a weak voice, not even bothering to raise her head.

He questions surprised me.

"Why I would save you? Well, because I wanted to. Whenever I see someone in trouble and in need of help, I want to be able to save them. You are no exception. The look in your eyes told me that you needed help." I mean, isn't it obvious? My dream is to become a hero of justice, so helping those in need is something is a basic requirement for me. Unlike my past self, I am not foolish enough to believe that I can save everyone everywhere, but whenever there is someone in need of my help, I will do everything in my power to help them.

The girl tensed at my response, her nails dug into her soft skin and her shaking slightly. "But... but I am not human! I am a monster! you should hate, despise, and want nothing to do with me! That is how all other humans are, right?!"

She then raised her head and I could see that her eyes were now filled with tears. "If not... if not this, then why is it that that happened? Why is it that such a horrible thing happened to me!? Why is it that I suffered so much?! Shouldn't it be because I am a monster? So why... why is it that you try to treat me differently? Scorn me, hate me, please do anything just stop trying to be gentle."

As she said that I realized what is likely going on. She is trying to make sense of something that happened to her. Her pessimistic attitude was most likely the result of some trauma she experienced and is trying to make sense of it. However, her words upset me more than she realizes.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" I yelled out catching her off guard. "I don't know what is going on with you, but one look at you and I can tell that you are no monster. Different maybe, but never a monster... I have seen monsters before. People who love nothing more than to cause pain to the people around them and setting the world ablaze just for the pleasure of it... that is what a monster is." I clenched my hands to the point of drawing blood as memories of Kirei and Gilgamesh ran through my mind.

"With just one look and I can tell that you are a gentle soul that was wronged in a way that should have never happened... So please, would you mind telling me more about you? I want to try and understand you."

As I said that her eyes released even more tears, now she didn't even bother to try and stop them, as she started telling me her story.

* * *

3° person P.O.V.

6 months ago

The Land of the Rising Sun, an island nation that was less than half the size of the Clover Kingdom. It was completely isolated from any other landmass and liked being this way. It was further divided into the Oriental and Occidental Empires. The two empires considered one another bitter enemies with their respective emperors trying to murder each other at every available opportunity. The two sides waged war against one another for the last few hundred years.

In the Oriental Empire, the ruler was considered an absolute tyrant. His tyranny seemingly endless, even though he was already of old age to the point many could not tell how much longer the man had. Not that it mattered for the Emperor in question since the only things that mattered to him were the destruction of the enemy empire and ensuring the imperial family's continuation and glory. He had a total of three sons, two of which were great generals of great renown and that had won many battles using their cunning and overwhelming power to their advantage. Meanwhile the oldest son was the crown prince and was beloved by all as he was known for his benevolence and for being perfect in every possible way.

It was to such degree of perfection that some even wanted him to succeed as the next emperor, something that the nearly dying monarch would never allow. His words when he heard the rumors were as such.

'I am the supreme leader and emperor of this nation! I am the only one fit to lead this nation and and no one should ever hope to take my place!' But even as he thought as such, he could not go about and kill the crown prince. He had too many followers and was too well known and respected.

At the present time, they were in a bit of a bind as the Occidental Empire had been gaining ground on them due to their new general named Raikou, who was a woman of all things! The emperor along with the entire Oriental Empire were of a culture that emphasized male supremacy and power. To them women were considered as just a means to vent their lust, clean their homes, and bear their children, nothing more. To consistently lose battle after battle to one such being was an insult like no other to the emperor. If it were not for the fact that he was concerned for his safety, he would have long since sent the demonic commander Hijikata, the leader of the imperial guards, after the whore to bring her back to him on her knees.

On one day, the Emperor finally devised a plan to deal with the 'prince'. He ordered his oldest son to go to the sacred forest that surrounded the great sacred mountain on the edge of the Oriental Empire to obtain a certain herb. The herb was known for being able to cure almost any ailment. Most of their stock had been spent on healing the emperor due to an assassination attempt where he had been poisoned.

The crown prince accepted the mission even as he heard his father's orders to not take any guards and prove himself worthy of being the next emperor. Of course, the prince was well aware of his father's true intentions, as he did in fact plan on removing the old fossil once the time was right. However, even though he knew it was most likely a trap the crown prince did not fear it in the slightest. He was a well known master of the mystic arts and his charm magic ensured that most people would not try to harm him even if it was their mission to do so.

Inside the sacred forest, was a secret that very few outsiders knew of. Hidden within it, there lies a village. A village that was protected by several wards composed of ancient and powerful magic and the residents were not typical your humans either. They are what both Empires would call Yokai, a mix of species with a near infinite number of variations in their magic abilities and physical prowess.

It was not known by those outside but those of the village were considerably stronger than most mages, to the point that there were some that could be considered equal in strength to the elite generals of either empire. Even the youngest of yokai possessed incredible fighting ability. If either empire were to discover the truth of their existence, there was little to no doubt that they would move in to either use them to fulfill their own agenda or eliminate them.

However, the village itself was absolutely peaceful. The inhabitants thrived by hunting the animals in the area, as well as from the fruits and herbs the forest quickly produced due to the magical energy saturated into the ground. The whole village was one that was filled with a variety of trees and flowers, and was quite advanced in terms of the mystic arts and had plenty of space inside for the more that five thousand inhabitants. The mountain in the center of the forest was hollow inside to open extra space containing the Yokai's sacred training grounds.

The village was a place filled with life and happiness where people regularly sat down to talk to one another about anything on their minds as one big family. Such an example of comradery was found among three girls sitting under a cherry blossom casually talking with one another with smiles on their faces.

One of them had black raccoon-like ears and a tail, and was wearing considerably skinny clothing that showed off her underdeveloped, yet still quite attractive body. She sported a serious look on her face as she looked to the other two women in front of her.

"So, did you two finally decide when you will go through with the ritual?" She asked.

"No, no we haven't decided it yet Ushiwakamaru-chan." the one who answered had dark skin, long legs and a seductive body enclosed in very revealing clothing while her bunny ears playfully swayed in the breeze.

"Yeah, I already imagined YOU wouldn't have gone through it. After all, what if the ritual says you are not meant to be with that annoying Ozymandias, huh Nitocriss?" Ushiwakamaru playfully smirked as Nicotris's ears stood on end. It was a well known 'secret' that the dark-skinned bunny girl had a thing for the pompous douche, powerful as he may be.

Neither Ushiwakamaru nor the other girl could ever hope to understand why someone like Nitocris had such interest for a man that wasn't all that much in their eyes, but neither could say much to dissuade their friend from this path she now walked.

"I don't care what you say, I am not going for him as he is too above me for that. And I know that Tama here is also not interested in going through the ritual right now." Nicotris said with confidence as she glared at Ushiwakamaru.

Tama, or Tamamo no Mae, was a fox-type Yokai, a Nine-Tailed Fox no less. It was a well-established and known fact that those like her were born with immense powers in both magic and physical prowess. In addition to her power and the fact that she is one of, if not THE, most beautiful girl in the entire village, it was no surprise that she was courted by many. However, she never never really showed any interest in dating men from her village.

But her next few words were quite different from what their friends were expecting.

"Maybe I will. I always wanted to know for certain who my perfect soulmate is anyway."

The ritual in question was known as the Sacred Vows ritual. It can only be used by female yokai to determine who the identity of their soul mate. It had never failed and all of those who had undergone the ritual eventually found happiness. Even so, some of the female yokai still chose not to undergo the ritual as there were cases where a single male was the perfect mate for many other females and the fact that they would share the same man did not sit well with some of them. It was also a fact that there were those that would rather chose their partner themselves instead of trusting a ritual, no matter how accurate it was.

Despite not showing any interest in the men around her, had actually thought long and hard about love before. She had heard and seen how perfect matches could be like. Her mother and father were happy and she wanted the same for herself too. However, as a Nine-Tailed Fox yokai she was restricted for doing the ritual until she had matured enough both physically and spiritually so as to not risk damaging anything or even somehow failing the ritual.

Tamamo never feared that however, she instead trained seriously in secret with the help of her mother while also learning all she could about how to be the best wife possible. Anything she could think of that could please whoever was her destined one, she tried them all and practiced them to the point of mastery. Poetry, dancing, painting, needlework, cooking, even management and accounting as she wanted to support whoever it is that was considered her match to the best of her abilities. She also trained seriously under her father who was one of, if not the best warrior in the entire village. He had once told her that her Ofudas were probably as strong as his own, despite her age. She truly was a woman who would be hard pressed to find an equal.

And now she was finally confident that she could go ahead and discover who her perfect match was. She would not care even if he were to have multiple wive like her self-proclaimed older brother, Ozymandias, who already had 10 women around him. Ever since they were young, Ozymandias had decided that they would be siblings merely because they equals in terms of magic power and strength.

All she wanted was to be the perfect wife and to obtain the same happiness she had seen in her mother's eyes for so many years.

Tamamo then blinked as she noticed the sun's position over head and noticed that her ritual was just one hour from now. She had to make haste and prepare as she wanted to look her best.

"Nico-chan, Ushi-chan, I am going. Wish me luuuuck~." Tamamo said as she sprinted to her home. Her two friends stood flabbergasted but soon the two started wishing for everything to go well for the fox girl. She was one of the gentlest souls they know and she deserved all the happiness in the world.

As she got home Tamamo quickly changed her clothes, she put on her fanciest kimono which she normally only wears during important festivities. As she made her way towards the center of the village, she saw the building where all the different ceremonies were overseen by the great priestess Sheba. Including the Sacred Vows ritual, the building has been used for rituals to promote good harvests, ensure the protection of the village against invaders, marriage ceremonies, funerals, as well as baptisms. It was considered the most sacred place in the entire village, even if the one responsible for overseeing it is not exactly all that holy per say.

"Heyo, Tama-chan! Did you come to see me for the love-match ritual?" A cheerful voice said from inside the temple. From within its depths came a woman with an absurdly sexy dark-skinned body that would make make even the strongest willed man fawn over her. The fact that she was wearing a revealing bikini and had two furry cat ears on her head only further added to her natural sex appeal. However, even with her beauty and cheerful demeanor, there was a constant air of misfortune around her.

"Yeah, I came here to do just that Sheba-sama. I hope you can help me with it." Tamamo said elegantly.

"Oh, I understand. You desire to know who your perfect partner is for the messy sum of 50 gold coins." Sheba said with a gentle smile, but Tamamo rolled her eyes and said.

"It is 20 and you know it."

"Uhyahyahyafufufu, I guess you know your stuff well. Fine, come inside and I will let the pay be right in the middle at 35 golden coins." Sheba was someone who loved winning money and while not evil or demanding enough to cause any real damage to others she always got the best possible deal for herself.

Tamamo, knowing Sheba's personality for a long time, simply gave her the money and cursed under her breath. She had put together more than 100 golden coins. Tamamo was just anxious to find out who would be the target of her affections and make sure his heart was hers as soon as possible!

Entering the temple, she and Sheba sat down on some of the comfy pillows that were on the floor. Sheba first lit some incense, and prayed for the great goddess that protected them since long ago, the Light and Sun Goddess Amaterasu. After the prayers, Sheba took one drop of blood from Tamamo's hand and one from her chest, pulling the two drops together she used them in the ink she had prepared beforehand. The ink was then given to Tamamo and with a papirus scroll she had to write down her own name before Sheba took the scroll and ripped it to shreds before throwing them into the sacred fire left behind by the goddess herself. The fire quickly consumed the papirus but instead of simply turning it to cinders a mysterious energy appeared.

This energy felt sacred and powerful and using her own hands Sheba cupped some of the energy from the fire into her hands. Sheba's eyes shone with a bright light as she started feeling the flame for signs that would allow her to predict the identity of Tamamo's destined one.

Normally it was at this point that Sheba would say who was the destined one, but as Sheba felt inside the energy a frown appeared in her face before turning to shock and disbelief.

When Tamamo saw Sheba's expression, she stood up and made her way to the priestess.

"What's wrong? What does it say?"

"There is no match for you in our village."

As Sheba said those words it was like a bomb hit Tamamo's spirit. This was a custom that was over five hundred years old and there was never a case where there was no suitable partner in the village. It had always been a possibility, but this was actually the first time that such an outcome actually occurred.

Tamamo suddenly found that her life's dream, her biggest desire, would never come to pass. But before depression could take her over Sheba continued.

"But the goddess is benevolent. She has left a prophecy for you, 'the one that will be the only true match for thee is a prince with the noblest and purest of hearts. He will come to you in your moment of need and will put his very life on the line to bring you the happiness you crave. He is beloved by all and he shall be the one that will spend his days and nights with you. Though his love for you will not be quick to happen, it shall last forever.'"

Tamamo, hearing this, got EXTREMELY excited.

'He exists! My perfect match! There IS someone out there for me, and I just have to find him! YES!'

She did not even bother to hear the rest of what Sheba was trying to say, she only knew that she was destined to be with an actual prince and that she had to go and find him at once!

Tamamo turned around and ran out of the temple. Sheba saw that and wanted to stop Tamamo, but the foxy girl was faster than Sheba who could only shake her head dejectedly as she let the energy in her hand dissipate while praying that the whole prophecy would not happen as there was more to it.

'But on your path thou shall face thousands of arrows from an impostor who awaits you with words of fake sweetness and cold poison'

* * *

As Tamamo returned home, she immediately began to prepare her bag. She was going to go and find whoever it is that she was destined to meet! However, as she was finishing packing her essential items into a bag someone entered the room.

It was a man with brown skin, a tall build with considerable but not excessive muscles, golden eyes like the sun, a heavy golden chain, and with a lion's tail coming out of his backside. His very presence enhanced the light within the room, and the aura gave the impression that his very presence made him the 'king' for all.

"My imouto, I heard that you had gone to the hag's house to confirm the identity of your destine one! Please don't leave this one waiting any longer, tell me who it is and I shall bring him to you kicking and screaming if need be."

"There is no need for that, Ozymandias-nii-san. I already know where to find the one that will bring me happiness and I will go to him myself! How else will I find happiness if I do not put in the effort to obtain it?" Tamamo countered her self-declared brother's words. They were not related by blood in the slightest, but after Ozymansias declared himself her nii-san he had simply moved to demand his presence no matter the time or place. They liked each other much like how a family would, even if she disliked how Ozymandias acted like a playboy by fooling around with the hearts of so many women out there. Although a harem was not an unknown concept to their village as most of the population born here ended up being mostly girls instead of boys, but that was besides the point.

Even so, Ozymandias was the type of person you could never really hate no matter how overbearing he may act.

After hearing Tamamo's words, he clapped his hands while sporting a radiant smile.

"Excellent decision, my dear imouto! I knew you wouldn't just take things for granted and would instead grab hold of your future with your own two hands. However, I still insist that you at least tell me who is this mystery man that shall bring you happiness. I must test him myself to ensure that he is worthy of a treasure approved by this me." Ozymandias said imperiously.

Tamamo, not thinking much about it, started talking.

"He is said to be a prince from out of the village, the prophecy said tha-"

And that was as far as Tamamo went before she felt an intense pressure upon her by caused by Ozymandias. The intensity of the mana he was exerting was so intense that it could make lesser beings pass out from the pressure.

"What do you mean by that? You are not planning to leave the village, right?" His voice, normally so full of energy, now possessed a deeper and much more imposing tone. His eyes dead set on her form as Tamamo could feel that if she was not careful she would end up in a fight with one of the few people in the village that was actually stronger than her.

As Tamamo didn't answer Ozymandias shock his head and said.

"My imouto, you should understand just as well as anyone else in the village. Humans had always despised us for being different from then and feared us for our power. In the past, every single yokai that has ventured out into the world have always ended up being hunted down by the humans. Even doing something as noble a saving the life of a human, could lead them to discovering how to find and enter the village... If you truly desire to leave... then you may never be able to come back. And if anything happened to you out there, I can't even begin to imagine how I, your parents, Nicotris, and Ushiwakamaru would react." As Ozymandias said his piece he turned to leave and said. "... Remember this, even if you can't find this 'destined' one, you will always have a place here with us."

As he left Tamamo's mood calmed down a bit. Although even with Ozymandias warnings, it was useless to try and deter her. She would not stop, she would simply have to make absolutely sure that her animal traits were hidden away. She drew an Ofuda of illusion magic and placed it over her head. The Ofuda glowed before disappearing. The moment it vanished in a burst of light, Tamamo's appearance also changed. Overall, the only thing that had changed about her was that her animal traits had disappeared. Her disguise seemingly complete, she finished preparing her baggage and hid it away for when the time to leave was right.

Unsurprisingly Ozymandias told her friends Nicotris and Ushiwakamaru what happened. Although they did not confront her directly, Tamamo could feel their presences outside of her home. They both understood her well enough and made it a point to discretely look after her and ensure she would not do something absurd like leave the village.

As day turned to night and the moon was at its zenith, Tamamo successfully managed to slip by them. She used one Ofuda of invisibility and another to silence any sounds she made while leaving her house and the village without anyone realizing it. She could not help but suppress a giggle, her Ofudas were her species type of magic. Instead of grimoires that most humans possess, yokai species like herself used Ofudas that they could write to activate all types of magic. It was very diverse and allowed their wielders incredible freedom. The only downside was the time it took to make each Ofuda. If she were to try and make a quick one it without proper preparation, it would lose its effectiveness.

However, before leaving the village, she made sure to stop by her family's sacred grounds to take her family's sacred heirloom, the Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu. It was a special mirror, that was normally used to increase her powers as well as allow her to use any magic from her ofudas without wasting them. Although the main focus of her the mirror is because of how said item also happened to be an important item traditionally used during marriage ceremonies. Even if she was venturing into unknown territory to find her prince, she still wanted to continue following the traditions of her village as much as possible to ensure the continued protection of the great goddess Amaterasu.

And so, silently she managed to leave the village's perimeter. Although the barrier had powerful wards in place to prevent unauthorized entry as well as prevented people from leaving, with her magical abilities and the Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu it was not that hard for her to create an opening long enough for her to slip through.

What she did not know was that not that far from her was a certain crown prince, braving the area in search of the herb that his father had demanded him to find. What the prince was not aware of was the group from the Occidental Empire lying in wait for any potential prey that came crawling to their borders.

* * *

Two hours later

Shortly after having left her village, Tamamo had discovered something shocking.

She had forgotten to take water with her.

To be fair, water was never an issue for her or anyone in the village. It was blessed with everything they might desire, including access to the purest water imaginable. Of course having never been outside of her home before, it had not occurred to her that she might have a difficult time finding nourishment and sustenance that had come to her so easily all her life.

As a result, she was now required to draw on her other enhanced senses to find the resources needed to survive. After taking some time sniffing the air and focusing her hearing, she finally managed to identify the location of a potential water source along with the sound of a running river not too far from her current location so she started moving towards it.

Before she even had a chance to head towards her destination, she heard a noise approaching from behind her. Turning to look she felt a small wave of energy wash over her, but it was so small that if it weren't for her sharpened senses she doubt she would have felt it. Although she was not able to make sense of what the purpose behind the energy wave, she did notice a poor but admittedly handsome man being chased by some evil-looking people.

Without a single moment's hesitation, Tamamo decided to intervene. Although the man was a stranger to her, how could she call herself a follower of Amaterasu if she just stood by and let people hunt down and kill one another for no reason. Not to mention that the blond one is sort of cute in her eyes.

With that set she jumped into action. Even with her animal features hidden away she was still physically stronger than regular humans, so she had no problem with intercepting them before they managed to reach their target. Getting closer she took out one of the Ofudas she had prepared before hand. She slammed the ofuda onto the armor of one of the pursuers and jumped away just as it was destroyed by a powerful wave of wind broke that decimated most of the assailants and sent them flying. Some of them survived but it was no problem as another one of her ofuda hit the ground in the middle of those trying to stand up from her previous attack. The ofuda pulsed with energy followed by the gravity in the area suddenly increased tenfold and forced them all into the ground.

As the remaining enemy forces were starting to retreat, Tamamo suddenly was feeling more and more of that weird energy washing over her She assumed it was the enemy's attack and no longer hesitated against it as she apparently brushed off the effects. Pulling a new ofuda out of her sleeve, snow covered their forms in a matter of seconds freezing them in place.

Sighing in relief that it was over Tamamo turned to speak with the man she had saved.

'Oh, my, goddess. He is such a hottie!', she could not help but scream in her mind as she moved in closer to see to see him. He had short blond hair, green eyes, white clothes that must have been enchanted to prevent it from getting dirty. He was literally shining with gold accessories covering his body that included golden rings, a necklace, bracelets, as well as earrings. Even his grimoire was riddled with gold, along with some additional details in the form of a weird pink tone that unnerved Tamamo for some she could say why.

"Thank you, fair maiden for helping me in my moment of need. I am the Crown Prince of the Oriental Empire, Jason. What would your name be?" The prince said giving her a smile that made Tamamo's mind go Doki Doki from the sight of it.

"M-M-my name is Tamamo! Tamamo no Mae." She said, hoping he wouldn't have noticed her stuttering like a fool. Her mind was soon filled with the notion that the man in front of her could possibly be her destined one.

Jason nodded and continued.

"If you wouldn't mind, would you like to accompany me? I was travelling to these mountains in search of special herbs that help to guard against poison. I was in the middle of searching for some when those brigands attacked me. I would love it if we could go there together, so that I can at least express my thanks to you."

"Y-yes, of course! I would be honored." Tamamo said bowing her head respectfully. She suddenly realized something so she turned and started rummaging through the bag she had prepared. She then turned around and presented a very familiar herb, much to Jasons surprise. It was right there with her mirror. As she took it out she gave the herb without a shred of hesitation to Jason, which he took and looked surprised for a moment there, but not so much at the herb and more at the mirror he caught a glimpse at. His eyes releasing a greedy expression for a moment, but for the life of her, she couldn't discern it for some reason.

With that they left the forest. As the forest began to disappear behind them, Tamamo turned back and gave one last look to her home. Hher eyes were filled with emotion and she released a single tear, not that Jason noticed as he was more interested in checking himself in the mirror to see if there was any dirt on him. Not long after leaving Tamamo saw how the sunlight surrounding the forest became many times brighter than before. From a distance she could sense boundless anger originating from within its depths. It appears as though, her foster brother had discovered that she had left.

Tamamo felt like she had disappointed him. She could also faintly make out the forms of three members of Ozymandias's harem. Although she could not see them due to the growing distance, she could feel their feelings of sadness and disappointment.

Tamamo felt her heart clench tightly and painfully seeing this. She had said she would not leave, and yet she broke her word and did it anyway. Yet as Tamamo looked at the prince by her side she felt her heart skip a beat and any guilt she felt was pushed aside. She had made the right choice, that is what her heart kept telling her.

If she wanted to obtain the happiness she desired, she had no choice but move forward. She would follow this prince and if he truly was the one, live happily ever after with him!

* * *

The trip to the capital was something Tamamo never expected. On the way, there she saw so many humans, along with several unique sights. The things outside of the forest were completely different from what she had believed. The people who saw her fawned over her beauty and she could feel such a different vibe to the one from her village. She did find it weird that most of the people here were not anywhere near as strong as someone from her village, but that didn't matter much for her. She and her fellow villagers were a peaceful people, isolated and wary of outsiders, but definitely peaceful. Her image to humans as the monsters that were evil and violent was being eliminated the more she saw of the outside world.

Even so, she chose to remain cautious and kept her animistic parts carefully hidden. In the distance, she finally saw the imperial city, the sight of which left her at a loss for words.

It was simply breathtaking.

The walls were very high, the castle was like a pagoda of more than nine levels, the sun shined upon it beautifully as boats left from the coast nearby. Unlike her village had a peaceful and had a holy atmosphere, the building before her was much more lively and with far more sights to see and do that even from a distance made Tamamo laugh with excitement.

Looking from the side the prince gave a slight smile as he led her further into the capital.

It was already night time, the streets were illuminated by fire magic in the form of flowers in an abundance of colors and there were children running and playing around and couples were going on dates, while lanterns decorated the night sky. It was like pure magic to Tamamo.

One of the children, a young girl, went up to her and pulled her robes slightly to get her attention. Tamamo turned to the young girl who was beaming up at her with an adorable smile.

"Miss, are you an angel? You are so pretty."

Tamamo's cheeks heated up and her body turned to jelly from the young child's question. It took all of her restraint not to pull that girl into a hug and never let go. The prince started pulling Tamamo, she followed him but turned to look at the little girl one last time before throwing a fruit she had in her bag to the girl who thanked her.

"Bye, bye, miss angel." The girl yelled.

Tamamo was starting to like this place more and more.

* * *

At night, Tamamo was invited to sleep in one of the prince's residences which she happily accepts. That night had a strange dream. It started normal, but every few minutes she would get more and more images of the prince in her mind and more and more she would feel attracted to Jason.

When morning arrived, she sat down close to him for breakfast and she could barely even look at him straight. He was just too beautiful and charming in her eyes. Even his mere smell was enough to send her heart into a frenzy, but a part that was a bit smaller than before her sleep was telling her that she should not do anything she might regret it.

"*i**h, would you like to live here? I **n* a w**r* and you would be wonderful here to stand by me." Jason said with a pleasing smile, Tamamo could not quite grasp what he said, but she understood that he wanted her by his side.

"Sure, I would love to stay here with you." she said happily, trying her very best to not jump in joy as Jason invited her to stay with him. That was one step in the right direction for sure.

"Great, I will prepare chambers fitting for you." Jason said, with a slight laugh that seemed charming in her eyes. He was happy with her, that was great news as far as Tamamo was concerned.

And so, the days passed. Her life with Jason was quite wonderful and he took her to see many wonderful sights and in return she would play any instrument for him whenever he wanted, she cooked anything he desired, and she did pretty much anything he wanted without a question. She would even go out every few days, to visit places the many popular destinations within the capital, as well as play with children, talk with the elderly women, and enjoy a variety of delicious foods.

As time passed, all that Tamamo could think of was Jason and even that small part of her that had been doubtful of her relationship with him, was slwoly giving in to the belief that what she was feeling was in fact true love.

'How else could I only dream and think of him? He has to be my destined one!'

For as long as she could remember, she had never experienced what love was like. She had always guarded herself against it, with the intent to offer her heart, soul and body to her one true love. Considering how she was currently feeling about jason, Tamamo was more and more convinced that what she was experiencing was genuine love.

As time passed she started being called by some as the Crown Prince's mistress. Some have even referred to her as the next empress due to her talent in a variety of fields, especially magic.

Jason never talked much about marriage. In fact, he would avoid the topic at all costs in the time that Tamamo had been living with him. She even started thinking after a while that she didn't really need to be his wife on a stupid piece of paper, as long as they followed the ritual of her village and that she could be with him, then she could not care less for how people thought of her.

To her, the love she felt growing more and more was the only thing that truly mattered.

Then one night, everything changed.

* * *

She had been living with Jason for three months now, and the time she had been spending with him was magical. She had even given her first kiss to him long ago and she was now preparing to give him her first everything. She had been carefully preparing for this day. She had even studied some books she had found in his own personal collection, and even asked some of the Emperor's concubines, but they did not have much of a mind to talk to Tamamo about anything.

However, a major event took place that greatly affected the time she spent with Jason. About two months ago, the Emperor had fallen ill. His health quickly deteriorating to the point where most of the decisions of the empire were made by Jason as its defacto ruler. On more than one occasion, Tamamo had tried to give Jason a helping hand, whisper words of comfort and even offered to use some of the traditional healing techniques passed down to her from her village.

However, he rebutted her advances every time.

Hence, as of last night Tamamo had decided to make a very big decision.

'I must move now or some harpy might try and take MY prince away from me'

Hence, she prepared herself the best she could. She wore the best clothes she had, spent hours applying her make up, prepared some unique perfumes native to her village that had a slight aphrodisiac effect, and prepared herself emotionally for what would transpire tonight.

Tonight would be the night when the two of them would become one, and bring them on step closer into becoming husband and wife!

She suddenly heard the sound of movement in the backyard of the abode she shared with Jason. Looking out of the window she saw him looking at the falling leaves while in deep thought. Tamamo could tell that he was harboring a lot of pressure on his shoulders and she knew that it was her duty to help alleviate it.

As she slowly made her way towards him, she overheard him mumbling somethin under his breath. She could faintly make something out like about how something ws taking too long and that he could not wait any longer for it. While disappointed that she could not understand what was ailing him, she chose to continue forward with her resolve.

"My majesty, come inside. The night is getting colder and I don't wish to see you getting sick." Tamamo gently whispered to him, while massaging his shoulders with all the attention on her.

He simply reclined and enjoyed the massage, he was more and more relaxed and when he saw Tamamo she could feel her cheeks getting hotter by the second as she felt the sheer desire within the eyes of her beloved.

Honestly, at the same time she enjoyed the look, but could also feel a part of her which was terrified of it. Sadly, Tamamo's focus won over her caution.

'Come on, girl. You gotta do this! Rope him! After we do the deed, I am sure he would not even care I am not human'

The latter detail was indeed something that she greatly feared. Although, she was certain that he would not mind. She heard multiple promises from Jason that he loved her. She had even asked him how he would feel about her, if she were to change and he continued saying the same thing. He was THE man for her, that was a decision she would not fight against and would claim it before anything else.

Thinking this she again invited him inside, and this time he chose to follow after her. With every step she took she felt something creep up on her as her eyes locked on with Jason's. The desire within her burning brighter and brighter to the point where she could only really think about her first time with her man.

Entering the bedroom Tamamo felt that same energy that kept telling her that everything was fine, and that there was no need for her to hesitate.

"Jason-sama, I know I am inexperienced and that you most likely have many others who would love to have you... but... for this night... would you make me your queen?"

"*******I would love to********" Although, she could not quite grasp everything he said, her heart nearly burst with happiness at his declaration.

And with that she let her kimono drop to the ground, revealing to Jason a body more beautiful than any he had ever seen, with her only modesty being lingerie that left little to the imagination and further emphasized her beauty.

He then pounced on her with great ferocity and locked her lips with his own. His love and desire was all she had on her mind. The feeling of having him accept her love was the greatest feeling she had ever felt. She was on cloud nine as she felt Jason's hands roam all over her body.

She had fully embraced her love for him, he was her everything.

But, destiny was not so forgiving to let her get the happiness she wanted so easily.

At the same time, in the Emperor's chambers, the chef Onmyouji mage and physician, Abe no Seimei, was treating him to the best of his ability. The disease the Emperor had was completely different from anything he had seen before. It was infuriating as every time he used purification magic to eliminate the disease the emperor only got better for a small window of time before his illness returned. Each time stronger than ever.

He quickly deduced that it was likely that this was some sort of magic curse that had an origin in somewhere in the castle and that there might have been an assassin lying in wait to kill the emperor. Abe no Seimei decided to secretly to use ancient magic, which would normally require a longer process to gather the mana necessary, as well as multiple mages for what she had planned. Normally, this type of magic was meant to be used to protect large cities and the capital, but he was smart enough to modify it to use in connection with purification magic to cleanse all foreign bodies of magic.

The process was slow and done in secret. Taking advantage of the fact that the Emperor's condition was getting worse, he invited multiple magicians and asked for the leader of the emperor's guard, the "Demonic Commander" Hijikata, to guard them while they used the ritual and ensure that they were not disturbed.

The ritual went off without a hitch, but the Emperor's health did not improve and was still sick and a step away from dying. Abe no Seimei believed without a doubt the ritual had been a complete failure. However, it did affect one person.

In that moment, Tamamo's life took an unexpected , abrupt, and violent turn as her illusion magic was shattered due to the ritual. Her tails and ears sprang forth and prince Jason who was speaking words of love into her ears suddenly jumped back in fright when he saw them.

Still not realizing what had just happened as her eyes were filled with euphoric love.

"What happened? Is there something the matter my lov-"

"MONSTER!"

And with that, her dreams of love, transformed into a nightmare of grief and despair.


	17. Chapter 16

"MONSTER!" Jason yelled at the top of his lungs. Tamamo, whose mind was still clouded from their passionate embrace mere moments ago could not understand what was going on. Worried that she may have done something wrong, Tamamo attempted to calm him down, unaware that her true nature had been exposed.

"My love, please calm down. What is it that troubles you-"

"DON'T COME NEAR ME! FILTHY MONSTER!" He yelled out with a fearful expression when her hand was mere inches from him. Tamamo had no idea what was going on, but she could only assume that some sort of misunderstanding had occurred. However, before she had a chance to fully understand the situation, Jason took advantage of her confused state to run out of the room, not even bothering to tell her what was wrong, nor was he bothered by his lack of modesty. All he cared about was getting away from the terrifying "monster".

Tamamo could only watch in shock as her beloved ran out to the courtyard yelling for the palace guards at the top of his lungs.

"A MONSTER IS HERE! SHE WANTS TO KILL ME AND EVERYONE ELSE! SOMEONE GET OVER HERE AND KILL IT."

As soon as he was finished yelling, Tamamo barely had time to put her clothes back before guards came barging in, weapons drawn and aimed towards her. Without hesitation the guards attempted to cut Tamamo down. She watched with horror as she recongized the men before her. One was a guard that she spoke with regularly and often laughed at his funny jokes. She even recognized another guard who had introduced her to his family and even played with his daughter. She had given them money to help with their finances.

However, these two men were now charging at her with angry expressions and swords drawn.

Even though she could see what was happening in front of her, Tamamo had trouble understanding how this could possibly be happening. Her head still felt sluggish for some reason. Her reactions slowed down, Tamamo could only try to defend herself. Thankfully, she still had her Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu with er. The mirror reacted to Tamamo's wish to protect herself out of instinct and moved to her defense, spinning like a disk and knocking the guards weapons away.

Seeing her chance Tamamo acted on instinct. Her desire to live and find her beloved to try and understand what happened overpowered all other thoughts. Without wasting time, she left the villa.

Guards chased after her in an attempt to capture her, but her higher physical abilities and animal instincts, along with the power of her mirror all but ensure her escape.

If Tamamo made the decision to just run away and return home things would have turned out much differently. Her near future wouldn't have been so dark and dreary. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be.

* * *

By the time dawn neared, Tamamo had managed to shake of her pursuers, and found a safe place to hide and catch her breath and to finally try and make sense of what had happened. Now that she stopped and managed to properly calm down and catch her breath, she finally noticed that something was wrong.

Looking behind her, she saw that one of her tails was visible. She then hesitantly ran her hands through her head, and could feel that soft fur of her animal ears.

"Oh no, oh no, no, no, no! How did this happen? This is bad, really, really bad." Tamamo said with fear in her voice.

For Tamamo, her current situation was nothing short of a nightmare. While it was true that she wanted to come clean and tell her beloved the truth about her heritage, this was not how she expected for it to happen. It was to be something she did of her own volition, and not as some unexpected accident.

He must be so afraid. Maybe he is even thinking that she was an impostor. She could not even begin to imagine what she was supposed to do now.

'Maybe... maybe I shouldn't go back. I don't know how to face my prince if he were to be afraid of me.' Tamamo said to herself, but her train of thought did not last for long. 'No, I can't do that. I am not such a weakling to just give up like this! If I want my love to be true I must put in the effort. I am sure he will understand and accept me in the end. He loves me, he said so himself before.'

With a determined expression, Tamamo resolved herself to follow her heart and cast away any and all doubts that she had. She was not the type of person to just give up on her love so easily. Even if him calling her monster hurt deeply, she would brave through it. To her, love was all that truly matters and she was magnanimous enough to forgive even those words.

With her decision set, Tamamo started to plan her infiltration into the palace. She had to be careful, now that everyone was now on guard, she could not just enter the palace like nothing happened. If she wanted to get to Jason, she would have to do so during nightfall. It was her best chance to see her beloved and try to explain everything to him. As long as he understood her side of the story, she was sure things would work out.

Unfortunately, Tamamo's optimism would prove to be her undoing.

* * *

Tamamo carefully made her towards the property of Jason's estate. She had decided to don a cloak and stick close to the shadows. If someone had seen her from a distance, under the cover of her black cloak they would have assumed that she was a kunoichi, a female ninja.

However, as Tamamo silently ran to the villa, she was surprised to see that there were fewer guards guarding the perimeter than she initially believed. Finally, she managed to make her way to the palace gates, with guards stationed at the gate.

In order to sneak past the guards undetected, Tamamo took out an ofuda she managed to create with the power to hide her appearance as if she was a chameleon. Even if she was invisible, Tamamo was careful as she approached the room where her beloved was.

As she got closer, she felt with ki that no one was there. She could have waited there, but it was far too risky as the chance of someone finding her was too high. Thus, she decided to continue her search. Eventually, she found Jason in another courtyard where he was currently meeting with dignitaries and generals of the capital.

She calmed down and focused her senses. With her enhanced hearing she managed to get what they were saying.

"So, is it true? Miss Tamamo is the assassin who is after the Emperor's life?" One of the generals asked.

'No' Tamamo thought. She was 100% innocent.

"Yes, our investigation says that she is 100% guilty." Jason said with a sad face. "To think I would be charmed by an evil beast trying to kill the emperor, I still can't believe it."

'Yeah, I didn't do it! I am innocent, I knew you wouldn't believe those lies.' Tamamo thought, relief in knowing that her beloved hasn't forsaken her.

"But, it is undeniable that she is the one responsible. After making investigating of her belongings, we found several items, including on object capable of cursing others from a distance. It has shown continuous usage according to Abe no Seimei-sama, meaning that she has been deliberately working to kill the emperor for a while now. I also have reason to believe that she might have arranged the assassination attempt against me from the moment we first met and used some kind of mystic art to make me agree to let her live in my own place." Jason said.

"Abominable."

"Evil fiend."

"Kill the beast!"

"Kill"

"Kill"

"KILL!"

The voices of the generals reverberated through the area. Jason saw this and made pacifying gestures to calm them down before he continued.

"I understand your concerns. We must eliminate this vile creature as fast as possible, but first we must capture it. We don't know if there are others like her, planning to attack us from the shadows, and if she has a way to stop this cursed illness that is close to killing our glorious leader. Only after that, will we kill her in the most gruesome way possible. We shall use her blood to wash away the shame such a crime was committed against us. I promise you all, without any doubt, we WILL kill this creature."

"I support that decision!"

"Lead us on this holy crusade!"

"Let's torture the evil beast before we kill it otherwise I will not be satisfied."

"It must suffer! This filthy beast dared to smear our holy city and for that it must pay the price."

"Let's go and kill it already!"

Jason then stood up, his head held high as he continued.

"The hunt for the assassin starts now. Now, who will join me on our righteous mission to avenge our glorious emperor?!"

Everyone in the room started clapping and cheering as yells of approval for Tamamo's execution echoed across the room.

Having heard enough, Tamamo ran away from were she was hiding. The pain from those words was excruciating. especially from her beloved, how he accused her of a crime she would never even think of committing, and how no one doubted the prince words, even those who personally knew her. She had talked to these people before and even befriended ALL of them. She had even helped many of them without asking for anything in return. Yet here they were, calling her a monster and evil.

...No, it was a mistake. She never did any of the things she was accused of. She was not related to it in the slightest! She had to clear her name. It was the only way to fix everything. If she could at least talk to the prince, she was sure that she could get him to understand his mistake. She firmly believed that from the depths of her heart, but just as she was about to turn around and find a way to talk to him, her instincts screamed at her to move.

Her body moved on its own and jumped away from her current position. A second later a katana covered in demonic energy came down on the spot she was in mere moments ago. If she had been even a second late moving away, she would have been cut in half. As she looked at who had just attacked her, her blood ran cold as she recognized him.

The leader of the emperor's guard, the Demonic Commander Hijikata, stood there with a katana in one hand and a Arquebeuse in the other. A black kimono jacket covered his back while he wore one on his body as well, but was covered in details of red like blood.

His presence alone was enough to make Tamamo know this was not going to be easy. He was a completely no-nonsense type that was known as one of the most terrifying fighters in the kingdom. There was no way that she wanted to stay here and face this monster. She had to find another time to talk to the prince, there ought to still be a chance for her to talk to him.

But, wanting to run and ACTUALLY running are two separate matters entirely when faced with an opponent like Hijikata.

"Demonic Magic: Demonic Cloacked Vydia Slash." his katana was covered in demonic flames before he launched them in an aerial slash. Tamamo used one of the Ofudas she had on hand, she used it to create a wall of stones in front of herself, but when Hijikata's attack hit the wall it was completely destroyed along with the Ofuda that was connected to it. Seeing this Tamamo starred eyes wide with shock. While she may not have been fighting at full strength as she had reservations against attracting too much attention, the wall was still powerful. It seemed almost impossible for it to be destroyed that fast and without any resistance.

Seeing her reaction Hijikata started to speak,"I suppose this is the first time you've see someone use the Demonic element. My element is the epitome of pure destruction. Whatever is in its path is destroyed without a trace. Normally, I would simply kill you, but I don't know if your curse will end after your death or not. Thus, I will drag you to His Majesty to have you treat him. Now, come silently and I will let you have a not so painful death."

Tamamo heard his words and could not help but look at him with an amused expression.

"Sorry, but I have no relation to the situation with the Emperor. I just want to talk to my Jason, now get out of my way!" Tamamo said, but her answer was another swing from the blade of Hijikata. This time she used a wind Ofuda to push herself out of the way as the attack was just too fast.

"So be it, I can still take you to him without your limbs." Hijikata said, his voice emotionless before he yelled out a command. "SHISENGUMI! FIGHT!"

""""""""HOOOOHHHHHHH!"""""""""

More than twenty men appeared around Tamamo, coming in from all sides as they surrounded her. The imperial guard, Shinsengumi. Now Tamamo could only curse under her breath as she knew she had no choice but to fight to escape. They might not all be that strong when compared to her, but it was undeniable that they would not fall so easily.

Tamamo quickly evaded another attack from Hijikata. She didn't even try to put a defense and instead chose to keep her distance due to the destructive aspect of his magic. Seriously, it was too much of a cheat for him to have this sort of magic!

She had to pull out several of her Ofudas to use against the other guards. She tried her best to use elements that countered those of her attackers, but even then she was not having an easy time. Hijikata was slowly but surely cornering her while the others blocked off any chances of escape while launching a barrage of attacks that made it impossible to dodge everything.

After five minutes of fighting, she had received a sword wound to her stomach that could have killed her if Hijikata had wanted to. She was not getting anywhere. If she allowed for this to continue, then even more people would arrive to investigate and it would only be a matter of time before things went completely to shit.

Thinking that she gritted her teeth as she decided what her next move would be. Putting a lot more magic in reinforcement than anything she ever did before she launched herself at one of the Shisengumi members on her left. He used his blade covered in ice to block her, but she simply decided to power through his attack. Putting her hand in a knife stance, she chopped it against the blade. The power behind her strike was so strong that she broke the the ice blade. The enemy was stunned seeing that his ice creation was broken so easily, and that oment cost him dearly. When he snapped out of it, she used the same hand to grab his face and slam her knee into his face with enough force to knock him out. She didn't have the time to commemorate her victory as the other members didn't stop their attacks.

If anything the fact that she was no longer surrounded meant that they didn't have to fear friendly fire, so they got even braver as they attacked even more ferociously.

She was still faster, true, but Hijikata was not one to be deterred so easily.

"Demonic Magic: Demonic Cloaked Dimensional Puncturer." As he said that he poured energy into his Arquebus, where it focused towards the tip before firing out a bullet-like construct. The bullet flew so fast that not even Tamamo, with her enhanced senses could not react in time. She was powerless to stop the bullet as it pierced one of her arms and another in the side of her stomach. She felt the searing pain as she felt some of the demonic energy enter her. She attempted to purge the energy from her body, if she did not do it soon then who knows what type of damage this could cause her. Luckily for her, Hijikata was not trying to kill her just yet, as he beleived that she could heal the emperor.

She was running with all she had, but the Shinsengumi was not letting up. She used a ice Ofuda to freeze the wound as to seal it until she could try and create an Ofuda of healing, but the feeling of the ice inside her wound was not something she could identify as anything except pain. But she kept running, all her animalistic instincts in full display as she used all she had to open a space between her and her pursuer. When the distance was enough she used her mirror together with two of her Ofudas to release a large amount of ice and stone to create a more solid barrier between her and the Shinsengumi.

As she ran it took about 30 seconds until the wall was broken through by a furious and snarling Hijikata with his sword covered in Demonic magic. He was about to follow when a messenger shikigami, likely from Abe no Seimei, appeared by the side of the Shinsengumi leader.

Said leader trembled in rage but turned around to leave together with the rest of Shinsengumi, but that didn't stop the running from Tamamo who already had all her instincts yelling to her to run away.

After she ran for more than twenty minutes and was well away from the city she finally stopped, not because she was tired but because her body was simply in too much pain. The ice that was stopping her injury has started to melt and her blood was quickly leaving her body as Tamamo could feel her vision blur. The pain was unbearable but she knew that stopping in the middle of a road like this was suicide as she didn't know when someone would appear to cut her down. So, with what physical force she had left she moved towards a cave she saw in the distance.

When she entered the cave she reclined on the wall of stone as she scribed an Ofuda for healing and used her mirror to allow it to be in constant use. It took about half an hour but she finally completely closed the gaping hole and healed her wounds, the worse ones being her internal injuries from the rampaging Demonic element magic that wreaked havoc inside her body.

As she finally concluded her healing she started to think on how to approach her beloved when she heard sounds in the distance, her fox ears twitched as she heard the sound of metal against rocks and multiple sounds of the same type.

'It is the army!' Tamamo thought as she quickly moved away, she knew that she had to run as it is likely that she would be found by the army if she stayed in the afronted place. However, just as she left that spot she was face to face with someone she did not expect.

Her beloved Jason.

"My dear," She said, as an overwhelming wave of emotion washed over her. It was a feeling she had felt before while in Jason's presence, however this time felt different and was much more powerfully than ever before. Any rational doubts or concerns she should have had at his apperance were pushed to the back of her mind.

"Tamamo, it is so good to see you." He said, his smile bright in her eyes as he slowly approached. "There is no need for you to worry my love. I know the truth." He said.

"What? You know I am innocent?" She asked,her attention now focused entirely on Jason, the army outside nothing more than minor concern to her at the moment.

"Yes, I have been conducting my own investigations and while there is no evidence that doesn't indicate you as to the culprit I still know that you are innocent. I believe in you." After everything she had been through that day, hearing his words of faith was enough to make Tamamo fall to her knees and cried tears of joy. Her beloved still loved her and believed in her innocence and he did not even care about the fact that she was not human.

She was about to say more, but he placed a hand over her lips.

"We don't have much time. Go to the west,towards mount Ryuji. There I have prepared some of my personal forces to scout the area and to make preparations to send you to a safe location where you can hide while I discover the truth. We will be together again my dear Tamamo, now go." He said before he vanished before her eyes.

Illusion transmission magic. A form of magic that allows someone to send an image of himself to other places, and depending on the type of magic the person can use, release magic as if they were there. It was not an easy spell to use, especially in combat situations and required a lot of energy and focus to maintain. For Jason to have used it to communicate with her told her that he as doing everything that he could to help her.

Now that she knew that Jason still believed in her, a new sense of purpose roused her spirits and healed her wounded body. She even completely forgot about the heartbreak she felt after he initially rejected her, quashing any doubts she had about him.

Right now the only thing that mattered was following Jason's words and head to the rendez-vous point.

* * *

The world around her was shrouded with fog. Tamamo held the cloak she was wearing close to her body as she made her way through the forest. After ensuring that her most vital injuries had been healed and she could once more move without feeling pain, she went on the road to meet with Jason.

It had not been easy. She had been forced off the short path, due to the large amount of foot patrols being conducted by the kingdom's soldiers. Taking the long way had left her exhausted, but the thought of being in Jason's embrace kept her going.

After what felt like hours, Tamamo finally reached the end of the forest and found her destination in sight. Mount Ryuji was a place where on one side was a big forest, and the other a canyon that leads straight to the sea. Tamamo flinched as the faint sound of thunder echoed in the distance. Her ears bristled and her animal instincts warned her of an impending storm.

She needed to find Jason and get out of this country fast.

However, when she finally arrived at their predestined meeting place, neither Jason nor his forces where anywhere to be found.

"... T-this isn't right! Something is wrong!"

Before Tamamo could gather her thoughts. The world around her reverberated with a loud rumble. The hairs on the back of her neck bristleda nd her instincts immediately quick in and forced her body to raise her arm and activated a barrier. Just as she did this, a massive blast of magical energy bombarded her location.

Tamamo grunted from pain at the unexpected assault, but she gasped as she felt the area aroudn her collapse from the strain of the massive barrage of magical energy. Tamamo, rolled on the ground down the crater created by the ambush.

A series of loud noises gathered at the upper edge of the cliff. Looking up she saw hundreds of soldiers aiming their bows and guns at her. Floating above them was a woman garbed in a kimono with a hood over her face and lilac hair in a ponitail cascading around her shoulders, her ears being slightly pointy indicating that she was not 100% human but similar enough that there would not be any difference. Despite her injured state, she was able to react in time and set up a another barrier just as they attacked.

Unfortunately, the barrier she set up had been considerably weakened and she had been unable to completely stop the barrage. As the smoke cleared, Tamamo was panting and crying out in pain as several arrows went passed her barrier and punctured her flawless skin.

"SECOND WAVE!"

'...no... I can't... not like this'

She channelded magic into her palms and created two ofudas which burst into flames before igniting in a blast of light and sound, momentarily incapacitating her enemies.

Tamamo jumped out of the crater and ran past a small group of shoulders on the perimeter of the crater. However, she did not make it far before she was blindsided by a blast of energy from the side. Rolling across the ground, Tamamo could faintly make out the sight of the lilac haired women bearing down on her with a coy smirk on her face.

Tamamo finally regained her bearings and dug her fingers into the ground. By the time she stopped her fingers her once flawless hands were covered in dirt and blood. Looking up she trew to Ofudas which transformed into bolts of lightning, however the woman merely waved her hands and a barrier appeared around her.

"Oh my. I was told to expect a firghtening beast, yet it seems this monster is all bark and not bite" she said with a playful voice.

Tamamo growled in anger, "What is the meaning of this?! What have you done with Jason?! If you have hurt him I will never forgive you."

The woman stopped her advance towards her, her shoulders shaking. However, Tamamo could clearly make out the sound of her poorly suppressed chuckles. In the end, the women did not even try to hide her laughter and let it out in haughty tone that undermined Tamamo's pride.

"You foolish harlot. DId you really think a foul creature like you could have any chance with my lord?"

Tamamo stood shocked at the revelation, "Your... lord?"

"That is right. THese men and I were sent here by my lord Jason to find and kill you"

Tamamo's eyes widened with horror. "S-SHUT UP! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOEMTHING LIKE THAT!"

"MY Jason would never hurt me! He said so himself and..." Tamamo stopped talking just as an arrow flew past her grazing her cheek. It was at this point that she noticed that more and more of the soldiers had regained their bearings and were now advancing towards her and trying to box her in.

Tamamo moved fast as she attempted to dodge blasts of magic and volleys of arrows and bullets. All the while, the woman observed her from her place on the ground, levitating over it on a spear.

"Poor thing., she is in denial... I suppose I could help her come to terms with it." the gentle nature of her voice was betrayed by the venomous look in her eyes.

Waving her hand a crystal ball materialized in the air. THrowing it in the air, the sphere glowed brightly before an image began to play, however the words were only transmitted towards Tamamo, who could pick up the faint sound using her enhanced hearing.

"What is taking so long Medea. Have you finished it off yet?!"

Tamamo's attention then diverged towards the familiar voice, "Jason?!".

This costed her dearly as she left herself open to a blast of magic that sent her flying back. She attempted to regain her focus, but the communication of the orb was distracting her. WIth every passing second, Tamamo could feel her heart break.

"She is a dumb bitch, so why are you taking so long to kill her?! We need her dead to prove my worth as the next Emperor!" Jason yelled sterically.

"I understand, my emperor. But she was more slippery than expected, she actually managed to avoid the first sneak attack so killing her is not being easy." Medea said.

"You whore, who are you to speak against what I said? Remember that your place and that of any other bitch I want is under my dick and nothing else! You are holes and that is it, and if you fail to catch that idiot by surprise it just means that you are an incompetent cum-rag. That monster was useless enough to fail to detect my Charm Magic all this time, she was receiving my power for MONTHS and never noticed a thing and NOW you say she is perceptive? Please, you and all other females truly are just trash, now go and dispose of the furry one in front of you already! I. Want. Her. DEAD!" Jason said with irritation, his words making Tamamo stop and be paralized, her mind not working for a while as the shock of it all weighted down on her more than anyone else could understand.

This, however, was a giant mistake as the time where she was paralyzed was exactly when Medea moved. With one move Medea launched an wave of ice daggers at Tamamo leaving her body filled with cuts. Tamamo did not even register it, so ingrained and intense was her love and the intensity of the betrayal that her mind failed to register anything. The words she heard from the profecy, the same words that were always true from hundreds of years, still rang in her head.

 _'The one that will be the only true match for thee is a prince with the noblest and purest of hearts, he will come to you in a moment of need and will put all he has to bring you the happiness you crave. He is beloved by all and he shall be the one that will be able to spend his days and nights with you, the love will not be quick to happen but shall last forever.'_

'However, why was it that everything was going so wrong so fast? It was a mistake, but it shouldn't be! Everything was perfect, so why is it that everything was suddenly so wrong!?' That is what was on her mind as the number of enemy attacks kept pilling up.

"What is it that I did wrong?!" She could not resist this yell even as blood was released from her throat, her body littered in arrows and bruises, her clothes ruined and her life on a thread that was barely maintaining itself. She could sense that she would not survive if it took much longer but she still had to know so she launched all she could against those attacking her, every move of her magic killing dozens of soldiers but the sheer amount of enemies was unending in her blurring eyes from blood loss.

She didn't expect an answer, she was already too tired and her body too wounded by this point and she could sense that she would not live much longer if this continued.

She got no answer from her beloved, no, from prince Jason as her energy dried out. It was just in the end when she was about to fall in a canyon too high up that would most likely result in her death that she heard an answer.

"Because I would never lay with a filthy animal like you. No matter how pretty you may be you still are nothing more than a stupid animal and I feel disgusted from knowing you lived anywhere close to me, filthy scum." Was the words of Jason as Medea launched a wave of ice at Tamamo, launching her in the canyon to fall to her death. Her body and mind broke as the damage from the arrows and the damage to her mind that was influenced by the Charm magic took its tool and Tamamo reached a point where even keeping human form was impossible. She turned into a nine-tailed fox.

Turning back into a beast was the greatest humiliation for someone of her race, most preferred death over it and that included Tamamo, but now she could not care about anything. She did not care about anything else anymore and just wanted to die already, the pain was just too great for her.

However, even that was not allowed as just as Tamamo was about to hit the rocks a wave of water raisen from the ocean, slowing down her fall and saving her life. But, her 'savior' was no savior at all.

Blackbeard, that was docked there until he could properly escape from his pursuers, saw the whole fight and when he saw Tamamo falling he decided to save her. His words, however, shown his true intentions.

"Such an interesting creature, you will fetch a good price back in the mainland." He said while opening a cage and throwing her tattered and broken form into it before closing it as he laughed. "This is my lucky day, your furry ass will make me RICH!"

And like that she was shipped away as merchandise, she would be sold to the biggest bidder that would use her for sick experiments or perhaps control her much like the prince once did to her. She was healed enough not to die but not enough to stop the pain, her food was the absolute bare minimum just as it was the water to ensure she would not recover enough to try and fight back, she even had heavy magic chains that released spikes whenever she put any force into them to make her give up trying anything, but she was not able to do anything in the first place. She thought clearly that this was the end for her and decided to just abandon everything, she had no future anymore. But, destiny likes to play pranks on others as sometimes blessings come right after disasters.

 _"Don't worry, I won't let you die here. Now rest, okay?"_ a gentle but firm voice said after who knows how long. It was someone who she could not understand or simply refused to, otherwise if this too was false she would completely break for sure.

* * *

 _Present_

"...And that is my story." Tamamo said as she finished her story.

"... I understand." I said. She flinched when she saw my hard stare (Jason reminded me WAY too much of a worse Shinji that the mere thought sent me into a furious rage) but as I softened my eyes forcefully she relaxed a bit. "I am not good at how to deal with this, but I want to tell you a few things. First, I what happened to you is something that should never have happened and if you ever need help just know that I am here for you. Second, as long as you are in my kingdom anyone that tries to discriminate against you will not be forgiven by any means and I will personally ensure that. Third, if you want to go back to your home I will take you there and if you want to stay here I will accommodate you with all you might need, the Black Bulls as a whole will protect you with all we have." I said.

"And HOW would you know that? I am a monster, so how can you do any of that?" She yelled at me, her eyes and face covered in tears as she did so.

Gently I caught a handkerchief (thankfully Nozel always complained when I didn't have one in me somewhere so I had one in my pocket) and cleaned her face with all care I could. She was someone who needs help, it might not be in the way I am used to and I might not be the best to do it but I want to be a Hero of Justice and as such will do my very best to help her, besides she truly is an innocent woman who has no guilt besides the fact she is a tiny bit different from others by having a different physic structure and being more loving than any normal human could ever be.

"Because I can." I said. "I am the crown prince of this kingdom we are in right now and even if I wasn't I would still help you, I wish to be a hero and isn't it the job of a hero to save a princess?" I asked slightly joking, making her smile slightly at it. "Besides, I would bet all the money of the kingdom that I wouldn't even need to promisse you the help from the Black Bulls." I said, making her doubtful. I only smirked a bit as I turned to a corner not far from here where a tiny portal was open. "Isn't that right, you guys?" I said.

Not even five full seconds after and every single member of the squad was inside the place, all trying to get to Tamamo first.

She almost jumped away as she saw this but before she could a portal opened to her side and Finral passed through it, his eyes dark as he looked at Tamamo. She flinched when she saw this but his next actions.

He bowed a full 90 degrees to her.

"I am sorry in the name of all mens everywhere for one of us to be such a detestable scum towards you in the past. Please forgive us all for it and if ever you need the protection of the Black Bulls know that we would do all we can to help such a pretty la-"

WHAM

"Don't go trying to woo a girl right now, pervert." Noelle said as she managed to lauch a water ball right at Finral, her aim really improved. "Anyway, I want to tell you that what you saw is not how a true royal should ever be like. As a member of the Royal Family I agree with Shirou in that you will be protected as long as you are in this kingdom."

Tamamo didn't know how to react, but before she could even process it Asta was next as he opened his mouth.

"You don't have to worry, my swords can cut down and negate all magic so you will not be controled by that monster again. But could you point me to where he would be, I really want to teach him a lesson. That was not a way to treat a lady, Sister Lily taught me so. He is no man."

"Yeah, yeah, I really think he would be someone I would like to punch to death, this time for real." Luck said from the side, his hands covered in electricity already.

"This man could try and use his magic to enchant Marrie, I will eliminate him before that." Gauche said before adding. "Besides, I heard Marry say she wanted to know more good people so I guess I could let you know the goddess, but she is MINE!"

"Hehehe, I really want to see if his pretty face will be so pretty when I smack him with my flaming bat. But anyway Asta, how do you intend to get to that piece of trash? You can't fly, right?" Magna said mostly to himself in the start before turning to the loud mouth.

"I will run there if I have to, it will be a good training to become the next Magic King." Asta answered.

"Here, eat this to cheer you up. You must eat a lot, the food here is good." Charmy said as she shoved some food right at Tamamo's mouth.

"Hay, hay, that is enough everyone." Vanessa said as she released a lot of threads at everyone and pulled them away, the only one she didn't manage to pull away were Grey, who was simply too heavy, and Gordon who was previously stomped during the commotion of everyone entering together and no one noticed it. Poor guy. "Anyway, don't you worry about a thing, Onee-san here will help you if you ever need anything and if the bastard tries to approach you again I will cut his little tiny him off."

At that comment all males instinctively put their hands in protection in front of our important areas, the scariest part is that none of us doubted she would do just that. Not that anyone here would feel bad for it if the bastard became a eunuch, not one bit.

Gordon was saying something but no one could understand it as Asta and Luck entered an argument about who would beat the bastard the most and when Magna was about to but in he was smacked by Luck and falling into Asta and the situation was already turning into the usual mess

Tamamo, seeing all this was shocked and didn't know what to say so I approached her and kneeled in front of her.

"See, we will protect you from now on, you don't need to worry about it. We are not going to let you down. So now, how about you rest and we can talk more when you are ready for it?" I said, this might still be early morning but considering the experience she went through and how she had to relive all that to tell me her story she must be pretty tired emotionally already.

Touching her hand delicately she flinched slightly but didn't pull her hand away or tried to resist as I silently pulled her along to my room, we didn't have other ready rooms and I think it should work well enough for her to rest while we prepare a more fixed place to call her room. Entering the room I saw the state it was but after asking Tamamo to wait for a second I tidied up the place to let it be more presentable. I then pulled her to bed and when she laid on it I carefully put a blanket over her and smiled.

"Call me if you need anything, just be sure to not hurt yourself, okay? I wouldn't like if you were hurt any more than you already did." Saying this I was about to leave when she pulled my hand using her own, the tremble in it was noticeable.

"...please stay." She said in a very silent whisper. "I don't want to be alone right now."

I nodded and held her hand back.

"I will be here for you, I am a hero after all."

With that, her mental tiredness caught up to her and she fully fell asleep. But her grip was still tight around my hand, her claw-like nails piercing my hand but I did not budge at all. She needed this, and considering how badly she has had before the least I can do is standing by her side now until she wakes up.


	18. Chapter 17

**AN: sorry, post mistake. Here is the actual update.**

* * *

It has been a full day since they had taken Tamamo back to her room. Since then, she simply refused to leave and would react negatively whenever anyone other than Shirou tried to stay with her.

Although, everyone understood that there was little they could do for her. After going through such a traumatic experience that she did, it would take some time for her to properly recover.

However, as much as I wanted to stay and watch over her, I still had to return to the capital to deliver my mission report. Not to mention I still had some other things that I needed to deal with. Tamamo had just recently fallen asleep, so I took the opportunity to leave her room as quietly as possible. However, once I stepped out, I started having an internal debate about whether or not I should leave or stay to look after Tamamo.

"You can go, I will watch over her", I turned to the owner of the voice, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Gauche. "... I went through some tough times growing up so I can understand a bit about what she is going through. I'll watch over her while you go do your thing. But if you go anywhere near my sister or even look in the cardinal direction she is located in I WILL KILL YOU."

I could not help but chuckle at his threat. A siscon he may be, but it seems that he is not as bad as I thought he was.

"And how would I even know where your sister is located?" I asked back as a joke.

"Simple, it is the direction that carries the greatest treasure that this world has ever seen, which of course is her." He said. "Now go do what you have to do and make sure that you come back quickly as I still have to use my time to watch over my angel".

"... ok then", I chuckled nervously at the antics of the man beside me and his over the top obsession over his little sister every waking and sleeping moment. Seriously, is there no normal person on this squad?

BOOM

"Come back here, you brat! I'll make you pay for eating my cake." Magna said as he ran after Luck who was laughing his ass off while speeding through the corridor and breaking everything in sight. Vanessa was sleeping close to the door while chugging a bottle of alcohol. I guess she might have wanted to serve as a guard but failed due to her tendency to drink at any given time.

How she can drink so much, yet have such a weak resistance to alcohol is beyond me.

Even so, I guess this is also good. What Tamamo needs is some time to think, relax, and a place where there is enough energy to make her feel alive again. At least that is my personal opinion. During my past life, I had that big house, Kiritsugu was also by my side, and Taiga was also there to bring her own unique brand of happiness and I turned up mostly fine. I just hope that we will be able to help her recover to how she once was.

* * *

"So, that's pretty much what happened", I finished my explanation for master as his eyes were shining so brightly I was surprised I could even see anything.

"Amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing!" Julius said excitedly. "To think that someone from another race and an entirely different culture and with a completely different type of magic is in our kingdom right now! I have to go and meet her!"

"You can not" Marx sternly reprimanded. "Firstly, she has been through an extremely traumatic ordeal and your actions may cause her further harm, as well as further hinder any attempt to communicate with and help her. Second, we still have a lot of preparations to deal with regarding the request from the Hearts Kingdom that we just received and we need your input".

I could practically feel Julius' depression emanating from his entire being. Deciding to ignore him, I turned to Marx as I remembered an important detail about his Memory Magic and decided that now was as good a time as any to get his input.

"Marx, I was actually thinking about a possible solution to help Tamamo and I was wondering if your magic could be of use to her situation."

I then explained my idea to Marx while he listened intently. My plan was to have him use his magic to do something about Tamamo's current situation to help her. It was obvious that letting Tamamo recover from her ordeal naturally was a process that would take too long. Heck, I never went back to being normal, and it is one of the reasons why I developed my Reality Marble.

Although I don't look like it, I am someone who, despite forging so many bonds, will forever have part of myself that is broken inside. If I can help Tamamo to avoid a similar fate like my own, then I will do whatever I can to help her, especially of her mental state was the result of someone manipulating her with magic.

"So what do you think Marx, is it possible?"

"It is a possibility, but not in the way that you are thinking". Marx said. "With my magic, it is indeed possible for me to modify her memories, but with too strong stimuli it would rebound and would wipe out the progress you have made so far. There is even a chance that we could make things even worse. I, on the other hand, believe to have a more preferable solution. From what you've told me, this young girl was being manipulated into loving someone through the use of a disgusting magic. As a result, it has affected her mind in a way that prevents her from properly processing certain forms of information. I could try and remove all signs of the magic that influenced her memories and make her remember things as they were without a magically induced state of love."

"I agree, that is probably the better option. I also had doubts about changing or sealing her memories. What you proposed sounds like a much better alternative, and does not require us to lie around Tamamo." I said.

Even though I wanted to help Tamamo, I was honestly at a loss of how to properly go about it. The more I think about it, the more I see that keeping things this way is not in her best interest. I could not keep an eye on her every hour of the day and, after that stunt, she pulled back at the lake, there was no way that I was going to leave her alone.

If it was possible, I would avoid asking other people for help, but even with all my Noble Phantasms and Mystic Codes, I was powerless to help Tamamo with her current situation. However, in this new life I have learned about the benefits of trusting others a bit more and Marx is one such person I can put my faith in. He is hardworking and honest to a fault, as well as extremely loyal. Factoring that trait, along with his magic, he is definitely the best person to help me with Tamamo.

"I see thank you your Ma-"

A portal suddenly opened next to us taking us by surprise. From out of the portal came Finral who looked like he had just walked through a fire.

"Shirou you need to come back right away!" he yelled panting and out of breath.

"What happened?"

"Its Tama! She just started to attack Yami!"

Our eyes widened in surprise at his declaration. "Take us back now!"

Finral had already opened a portal before I finished my demand. We rushed through the portal and arrived at the entrance of the Black Bull's base with its members trying their best to put out massive fires in and around the base. Behind us we saw large elemental streams of energy and darkness dancing through the air causing widespread destruction in their wake.

I turned around to find Gauche who was busy getting his head bandaged by Vanessa.

"Gauche what the hell happened here?"

He groaned as he tried to sit up before Vanessa forced him back down.

"Those two idiots were causing a ruckus so Yami came and told them to knock it off." he scowled pointing behind him to Magna and Luck who were knocked out and also getting themselves bandaged by Gordon. "Naturally they ignored him. Then Yami went nuts and blew up the wall outside Tama's room. One moment she was freaking out, and then she went silent. I noticed that a look of fear on her face when she saw the captain. Next thing I know that crazy girl blasted me back with magic and then went bat shit crazy trying to blow up the base to kingdom come to try and take out Yami"

Fuck. I need to act right now, Tamamo was still recovering and if she provokes Yami enough to make him fight seriously, then who knows what might happen?

"M _ythical Weapon Creation Magic: Down With a Touch **Trap of Argalia**_ " As I said that a spear materialized in my hands. This one was a white spear made for fencing first and foremost. It's killing potential is extremely low and doesn't even injure someone the same way a regular metal spear would.

Fortunately, its special power is ideal for the current situation.

Crouching slightly, I reinforced my body and launched forward towards Yami and Tamamo using a Mana Burst. Using the smoke cloud as cover a kicked Yami away, before turning towards Tamamo. She didn't even notice me until I passed by her and lightly grazed her on one of her tails with the spear.

Even less than a scratch, the power of the spear presented itself and Tamamo was about to fall to her knees until I caught her. She was shocked at the sudden change but when she saw me and the serious look on my face. She buried herself into my arms much to my surprise before she started begging me for help with terror in her voice.

"Please, please don't let that man hurt me again! I don't want to get hurt again!" Tamamo cried out, her eyes red with tears and the tension in her body was just too much for her to take. As I petted her head, she slowly but surely calmed down and passed out cold while snuggling into me. Even her tails were circulating around our bodies almost like a protective cocoon.

She was terrified, and the one responsible for her to enter such a state approached us while puffing his cigarette.

"Anyone mind explaining to me how the hell you are hugging a Yokai like that? And how did you even got one here? Also, you better fix my bathroom as your girlfriend over there wrecked it and I want it back to how it was." Yami said while holding his Katana that was covered in Darkness but was slowly receding.

Before I could answer Yami, someone smacked him upside the head. I was surprised to see that the one responsible was none other than Vanessa. I was shocked by her action as I had a feeling that she had a crush on our captain... I am a very perceptive type of guy after all.

"Captain, what the hell did you do to make Tama-chan get so worked up? Did you try to harass her or something?" Vanessa asked with an unusually serious expression.

Yami rubbed his head before turning to her.

"Of course not! I just ended up destroying a wall or two and when she saw me she went crazy. I get how women can go crazy seeing a man like me but this is ridiculous." Yami said. I couldn't say much as Tamamo was sound asleep in my arms right now. I was more concerned that if I were to talk too loudly or move her too much then she would wake up.

Thankfully Vanessa seemed to understand the situation, " Come on let's give them some room, I'll get you up to speed." she said while pulling on Yami's ear forcibly dragging him away from Tama.

"Ahh what the hell?" he yelled out surprised.

After she dragged him a considerable distance away, Marx and Julius approached. The both of them were looking at Tamamo with interest but Julius looked so happy that I was worried he might actually start skipping in place out of excitement. As cute as that may sound, he was a grown man and such an image did not suit him at all.

"Amazing, amazing, amazing! To think such an interesting specimen existed in this world. She used a completely different style of magic to our own and used different elements in all of her attacks! How does it work? Maybe it is by-"

"Take this seriously." Marx said while stepping on Julius' foot with all his weight. While Julius was jumping in place while holding his foot. Marx approached me and Tamamo. "Your Highness, I will begin the process now. I suggest that you seek shelter".

"Are you serious? This all happened because I left Tamamo alone. I will not leave her side, especially not now."

"Your Majesty please understand... if what you told me is true, then this girl has suffered greatly and has been taken advantage of in the most malicious way possible. What I am about to do is bring those true memories to light and I can assure you after what I have just seen, she will be very angry".

If he was hoping that would deter me, he was wrong. My only answer to him was a fierce and determined gaze.

Marx sighed in defeat knowing that I would not budge after making my decision. " Very well. Please make sure to hold her in place as she might react and if she moves her head too much she might interfere with the spell and cause some problems".

I nodded in confirmation. I would focus on holding her in a secure position, that would also allow me to safely restrain her if she went berserk and hurt herself by accident. When he saw that I was ready, he prepared to open his grimoire, while Julius watched attentively from nearby.

" _Memory Magic: **Memory Absolute**_ ", a spiked dome appeared above Tamamo's head. A spear of light soon emerged from it above her head with the intent to recollect and visualize her memories. Quickly, he fast-forwarded to sections of memory he identified as being corrupted, starting from when Tamamo first met Jason.

At the start, everything seemed normal but we soon noticed a distortion in his appearance, where he appeared to be almost shining. It was such an unnatural sight that it was obviously fake to everyone but Tamamo.

Frowning a bit Marx activated a second spell.

" _Memory Magic: **Spotless Past**_ ", in that instant, the distortion morphed back into what truly happened. The man's pristine clothes were ragged, his hair that was once perfectly combed was now glued to his forehead and covered in mud. He was the exact opposite of how he looked a moment ago.

His words, however, were what caught my attention.

"Thank you, fair maiden. You helped me in my moment of need. I am the Crown Prince of the Oriental Empire, Jason. What would your name be?" transformed into "It took you long enough, whore. Were you purposefully being lazy while I was threatened by those soldiers? The nerve of a peasant like you, and a filthy useless women no less. Have you no idea of who I am? I am the Crown Prince of the Oriental Empire, Jason-sama! Now, tell me what is the name of the meat shield that will be guarding me?"

I clenched my fists so tightly that I drew blood and I glared fiercely at the memory of Jason. However, I grit my teeth and bared with it. As angry as I was, it was nothing compared to how Tamamo was suffering. She was no starting to react violently by trashing her tails around and her nails pierced my skin. But I ignored it and continued to focus on helping Tamamo.

However, as we continued to cleanse her memories and we saw what actually happened appeared in the projection, it got much harder to control my anger. I was not the only one, Marx was also gritting his teeth furiously and even Julius was frowning. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others, also standing in attendance. I could hear Asta growling with a look of pure rage on his face. We may have forgotten to do this in a private location, but now I doubt anyone could convince the others to not be here and see what this woman in my arms was forced to endure.

As the projections continued and the memories that were painted over by the magic of Jason were removed I could clearly see the full extent of Tamamo's traumatic experience.

Suddenly Tamamo's eyes opened and were glowing pure white and her mouth was open releasing a large scream. From her outburst magic started to leak out creating a small scale maelstrom. Tears leaked down her eyes as Tamamo tried to wrestle herself out of my grasp like she was possessed, releasing ear-piercing screams that sent chills down my spine.

Thinking quickly, I summoned Avalon's power and had it envelop Tamamo's body. Slowly but steadily, Tamamo's erratic movements lessened and her screams broke down into tear filled subs before she returned to her unconscious state.

I looked up and I could see both Julius and Tamamo giving her heartfelt looks.

"... I promise it is almost over. Just bear with it a little longer", Marx whispered to her.

As I looked down at Tamamo, I could not help but feel for her at what she had been forced to endure. What she experienced should have been enough to break almost anyone and it was made even worse knowing that she was an innocent soul who didn't deserve such horrible treatment.

Eventually, we managed to reach the last of her modified memories and cleansed them. By the end of it Marx cleaned his forehead that was covered in sweat before turning to Julius.

"Lord Julius, if ever we find the bastard that used this accursed magic, I would like permission to be able to give him a good punch to the face. Someone with such terrible and disgusting magic should not be allowed to ever step foot in our kingdom."

Wow, I didn't even know Marx could get so angry at someone. He usually was very 'chill' so seeing him act this way was surprising, but the answer was even more so.

"I am sorry, Marx-kun, but that would be impossible. I would never let someone who uses such magic in our kingdom. I may not be familiar with this kind of magic, and to be honest I'd rather it did not exist." Julius said. For those of us who knew him it was quite surprising to hear that the magic freak Julius Novachrono, didn't want to learn about a never before seen magic.

It was at this moment that Yami approached, he took one glance at Tamamo and thought for a while before turning to Julius.

"Julius, we will keep the Yokai here. It is safer here than in the capital and I will make sure nothing happens to her, it is the least I can do."

"Hoh, and why would you say that? It is not usually your style."

"Because-" Yami started but was interrupted.

"Because she is super cute!" Finral said.

"Because she is strong and would be good to fight!" Luck said.

"Because she is from your homeland!" Asta said confidently.

"Fuuuuuuuu~~~~" Was Greil's unhelpful words.

"... Because, as it turns out, I recognized someone from her memories who was responsible for causing her harm like that." Yami said, everyone, looked at Yami with shock.

"Does it have anything to do with that man with dark hair and unusually powerful magic? Who is he exactly Yami?"

Yami took a long drag of his cigarette before replying, "It has been a while, but there is no way I'd ever forget his face".

"Who is he, Captain Yami?" Asta asked curiously.

"His name is Hijikata... my stick in the mud asshole of a brother".

Almost instantly everyone, including Julius and myself looked at Yami with shocked expressions.

"YOUR BROTHER?!"

Yami nodded in confirmation, "Yup, and, knowing how he acts, it is only a matter of time before he finds a way to come here to hunt her down and finish what he started, he always hated half-done jobs. Her best option is to stay here where I can keep an eye on her. That way if Hijikata does come here, I'll be there to take his ass down and I will get some answers from the asshole."

"Answers about what?" Luck asked, not really fazed by the reveal of Yami's brother.

Yami just walked inside, ignoring Luck. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Yami's retreating form. I could detect some blood lust leaking from him. I think it would be safer to not get anywhere close to the two if they ever meet.

GRUMBLE

The tense atmosphere was broken by a loud grumble from Asta and Charmy's stomach. Looking at them I realized that it was already close to lunch time.

I thought about getting up but Charmy was faster.

"Leave the food to me! I will make something yummy in no time and that will fill you all with energy." As she said that Charmy ran off and before long she came back with a plate of food she put in my hands. The smell managed to awaken Tamamo slowly, her groggy eyes glancing at me before I put the food in front of her mouth. As if it was just a reflex she took the food.

"What... happened?"

"... We used magic to purge you of the lingering effects of the man who used his magic to manipulate you".

Tamamo stared at me for a while before she brought her hands to her face and started to cry. "So then it was not a dream then. What Jason... what he did to me was actually... I was even going to..." as she started to sub uncontrollably, I brought her into a gentle hug, where she then began to cry her eyes out. We stood there for hours with me gently holding onto to Tamamo while the others looked at her with sad expressions.

Eventually, Tamamo stopped crying, and I then pulled her back to see her red and puffy eyes. I took out another handkerchief and give it to her which she happily accepted.

"Tamamo... I wish to once more extend my offer to you. You are free to stay here if you so wish it. We understand that after what you have been through, you may not be able to fully trust in humans again. But I... no we want to assure you that no matter what may come our way, we intend to do everything in our power to keep you safe. We will never allow those that have harmed you to ever do so again".

Tamamo looked at me with surprise, before she looked down, still struggling to come up with an answer to my offer.

"I... I don't know. After all, we just met, and I still can't believe that you would go so far to help a stranger like me".

I was not too sure why I did it, but I then began to talk to her about myself everything from my past, to my hobbies, to the types of foods I liked, and anything else that I could put into words to her. Before long, the other Black Bulls present also came forward and introduced themselves and told them a little bit about themselves.

Tamamo meanwhile stared at them in confusion, before looking back to me, "W-what are you...?"

"Well, I figured that now that you know more about us then that technically doesn't make us strangers. So how about it Tamamo... would you like to stay here with us?"

Overall, it kind of a clumsy effort. I don't know if it was effective or not, but her confusion soon transitioned into a calm smile and then much to my surprise buried her head into my chest.

"Thank goddess." She said.

"Huh? Why are you thanking a goddess now?"

"Because I can say for certain that you are not using any magic to make me like you by anyway. There is no way a magic intending for that would make me hear that you once fell a flight of stairs because you ran up it as fast as you could, but then tripped mid-way or that you decided it would be a good idea to show up on the selection of mages while covered in dirt without a second thought... but... can you promise me one thing?"

"What is it?"

"Can you promise to be genuine, I don't want to be lied and manipulated again. Not like what that thing did to me, I don't want to be deceived again."

I start to pet her head in a soothing manner before answering.

"Yeah, I promise that I will be honest with you, just be prepared to call me an idiot." I said with a small laugh.

"Huh? Why would I call you that?"

"Oh, just wait for a while. If you live with me for a while you will end up calling me an idiot for one reason or another." I said and she laughed lightly. However, this light laugh showed me that she was a bit better now.

Her memories were now how they should be, but while true that she must feel hatred towards that man she just doesn't want to think of him again as far as I can tell. However, she is still someone who will need the support of people she trusts to help ensure that she will be okay in the future.

She smiled seeing my actions before nuzzling her head to my chest. I saw her ears close to my head and could not help but want to touch it as it truly was quite cute.

When I touched it she jerked her body stiff.

"Sorry, was it bad I touched it?" I hurriedly asked.

"N-no, i-i-it is fine." She said weakly while looking to the ground.

Well, I am not sure if it truly is okay, but if she said it is fine then I guess it is.

And so I continued touching her fluffy ears. Seriously, they are just so soft that I could become addicted to touching them.

After a while, she turned her gaze to me.

"D-Do you really like my ears so much?" She asked.

"Of course, they are very fluffy and good to touch." I said.

"I, I see. So you like them then? Yes, that is good news then. And my tails, are they nice too?" She asked.

Her tails moved to circulate my body almost all at once. I guess she must want a confidence boost after all that happened to her

"Of course, they are very pretty." I said simply.

She nodded, a bit more excited now.

"mmmhmmm!"

Before we could continue, we turned around to see the rest of our Black Bull's looking back at us with different expressions on their faces. Noelle was blushing like crazy with actual steam coming off her head. Asta was laughing nervously while rubbing the back of his head, Magna was grinning, Luck was laughing, Vanessa was chuckling into her hand at our current predicament, Gordon was looking at us from behind a tree, Gauche was looking at a picture of Mary, but I caught him looking up for a just a second and Gray was still his usual stoic self.

Tamamo and I blushed like crazy before we stood back up, and I rubbed the back of my head with a sheepish expression.

After that, she properly introduced herself to the other members of the squad and was bombarded by Julius, who couldn't keep a solemn mood for too long and now was back to his usual magic geek style.

Yami was a bit further away, watching us from a distance. As we came back to the base, he briefly mentioned to Tamamo that she could stay as long as she wanted as long as she helped around the base. I wanted to say something but she quickly accepted so I guess it is mostly fine.

By the end of the day, she was helping me do the dishes after dinner and was humming happily all the while.


	19. Chapter 18

Over a week had passed since Tamamo had her memories restored to their original state. It may not have been easy at first, but thankfully she started showing signs of improvement. At the moment, she was back to her usual self... although technically, I can't say for sure that she is back to normal as we don't really have a reference to how she normally was and-

"Here hubby, say 'aahhhh'." Tamamo said while almost shoving a spoon down my throat, while smiling happily with her tails wagged behind her.

I opened my mouth and took in the spoon making her even happier. Since she learned the truth, I decided to watch over her until I was sure she would be fine on her own, which meant that I could not leave her alone right now. So when Yami sent Asta, Noelle, and Magna on a mission I couldn't go with them. I did not want to risk the chance that Tamamo could have had a panic attack because she feared that I wasn't going to come back.

Thus, I decided to play it safe and declined to go on that mission. Although considering how exuberant Asta and Noelle were upon returning as, despite someone dying, they managed to save a village that would have been wiped out by some freaky ice guy. Sadly, Magna was another story. Apparently, he had been close to the person who died as he was something of a mentor to him, so despite the brave face he tried to put on, I could tell he was hurting on the inside. Thankfully, he was not the type to just lie down in grief for long and was back to his usual self after just three days.

Another interesting thing that came out of there adventure was the strange little anti-bird that came back with Asta. It turns out that Asta's little bird friend had found a small stone hidden within the village. When I asked to examine the said stone, I was astounded by what I learned... or rather what I did not learn. Despite my abilities, when I tried to examine the stone, I discovered that I could barely understand it.

From what I could understand, it was something along the lines like a mystic code made to amplify the connection the wearer has with the mana in the air into their own being. However, I could tell that no ordinary human could hope to use it as the wild mana in the air might be directed at the person at a much stronger rate than normal. Not to mention that it would require a certain amount of time for a human to process the magic energy of the air before using it.

I estimated that only an individual that was truly 'loved by mana' or, to be more exact, some with the ability to use the external mana as if his or her own, would be able to understand and master this. Unfortunately, despite my powers, I am not one of those people. Even so, considering how dangerous such an object could be on the wrong hands I bribed Asta into giving me the stone for a dinner where all the dishes were made from tatoes. In the end, no one seemed to mind as they all found it to be delicious to the point where even Noelle enjoyed herself.

Anyways, after her third day, I asked Yami to let Tamamo help out around the base. She was quite lively and talked with everyone but it never went farther than simple conversations or courtesies. It seems she still had a ways to go before she felt comfortable enough to open up to the rest of the Black Bulls. Also, she needed to see me every once in a while to make sure I was still here. In some cases, she would even sneak into my room and I would find her the next morning nuzzling into me.

In a way, she acted like we were a married couple. It was somewhat awkward, as I don't know if this is the result of the situation she was or if it is simply how she wants to act.

It is all so confusing!

BANG

The door to the dining area was quite literally kicked open as Yami (feet still releasing smoke as the door's fragments fell to the ground) turned to us.

"Yo brat, you, the loudmouth, and the princess are going on an emergency mission, the team leader will be Luck so go prepare to leave already. Time is of essence." Yami said before turning away.

Looking at his retreating form I could only sigh, as I imagined how this would play out. An emergency mission is rarely something that I could ignore, and I probably wouldn't either, but the thought of how Tamamo will react greatly worries me.

"Sorry, I have to go. I have work to do." I said, trying to avoid sounding rash but I could tell that I was not successful.

Tamamo remained silent and I turned to leave only to see her follow after me out of the corner of my eye.

I was about to say something when she talked.

"A-as your wife I can't just let you go alone. If you go I go too!" She said in a proud tone, although with a heavy blush on her face.

"But you are still recovering and-"

"No, I am fine and I want to go with you to keep you safe." Tamamo said full of confidence. I tried to say no to her five more times but she refused to listen. I could not tell if she was doing this because she is worried more about me or because she just doesn't feel comfortable being here by herself.

Seeing no other way I decided to go to Yami. As a guest in his base, I hoped that his word would make Tamamo listen.

* * *

"Sure, why not?" Yami said after I told him of my dilemma. "One less mouth to annoy me and if the brat prince goes and you stay I can already imagine how annoying you will be."

I stood there shocked at Yami's nonchalant attitude, while Tamamo jumped for joy and gave me a big smile. I wanted to say something, but the moment I saw the happy look in her eyes I knew that I had lost.

"Anyways, we have orders from Julius to send out an exploration team to a dungeon that's appeared near the border between Clover and the Diamond Kingdom. Due to it being unknown, we can't let any chance of it being taken by the Diamond Kingdom. Considering just how big this mission is, you four, and the extra, will go there and make sure to grab everything of value that you can. However, be on guard, cause the location is also somewhat close to the mountain range that separates us from the Spades Kingdom and the Witch Forest as well. Honestly, it can be a ridiculously easy mission or an impossibly hard one, it is all up to luck here."

As he said that I could not help but frown, this was NOT the type of mission I liked doing. I would rather prefer doing missions that involved helping the citizens of Clover in more direct ways than this. Raiding a dungeon for gold and magic items is still an important task, but I feel like my time could be better used elsewhere.

"Hey, brat prince," Yami said, making me look at him. "You were handpicked for this mission by your old man, who said he wanted to see how you'd go at it. He also mentioned that you can have your pick of whatever you and the others find. So if you end up finding some booze and don't bring any back I will cut you down."

Oh, so that's what this is. Father wants to show off and probably heard it in passing and decided I should go too.

Sigh, it never ceases to amaze me how full of it my father can be.

"Anyway, Finral's going to help you guys get there. Once you guys are done grabbing whatever you find, press this and he'll come back to pick you up." Yami said while throwing me a small mystic code. "Normally, the Golden Dawn are the only ones who have access to this sort of thing, but with your addition to the squad, Julius decided to give us this little trinket too. Of course, whenever I ask for a Katana they come up with some BS reason to say they can't... but I guess we can't always get what we want." Yami rambled before walking away.

"YOOOOSH! Let's go! It's a new adventure!" Asta yelled with lots of energy while Noelle sighed beside him before walking to my other side that wasn't being strangled by Tamamo. Of course, she pretty much stayed there with a cold expression on her face, but still made some occasional glances at me every once in a while.

"Don't worry, I am sure we will do great out there." I said to Noelle who turned to me and smiled. However, she quickly readjusted her reaction and returned to her usual haughty expression.

"Humph, obviously everything will be fine so long as members of royalty are going." Noelle said while throwing one of her twin tails back.

After that, it did not take long for Finral to open a portal in proximity to the dungeon. We were about to move when I noticed the light rain falling. I looked behind us finally taking notice of Kyogre floating to my side with a disgruntled expression before he was 'captured' by Tamamo, who proceeded to hug the life out of him.

'I suddenly had a bad feeling about this mission so I decided to offer some assistance. And yet how is it that I am the one who is suffering now?!' Kyogre spoke to me through our link while he was being hugged tightly by Tamamo.

"This. Is. So. CUTE!" She said while trying to crush the mighty beast of the sea in her arms. Wile this was happening, Luck was busy trying to fight with Asta as a form of 'warm up'. I silently watched events unfold before me, a huge sweat drop forming on the back my head.

I can already tell that this mission is going to be even more complicated then I thought it was going to be. It would seem Kyogre's worry was not the only thing I need to be concerned about.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

"Oh, I forgot to warn them that two more teams are heading there too. Oh well, it probably won't be that much of a problem anyway." Yami said before taking a long sip of the sake he had obtained from the stash of things Blackbeard stolen merchandise. "Damn, this really hits the spot! I hope there is more booze in the dungeon... maybe even a magic katana too? Yeah, that would be great."

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

As we entered the dungeon I had no idea that it would be so... underwhelming. It was just a rock tunnel going deeper in the mountain, nothing more and nothing less. While we made our way inside, Tamamo and Noelle were keeping a tight grip on my arms with Noelle refusing to look straight at me while Tamamo was rubbing her head into my shoulders. Luck and Asta were talking and it was a surprise to see Luck notice a small crevice on the wall as we were passing by.

After applying a bit of force, the entire wall fell apart showing us what lay beyond it. Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I was astonished by the environment in front of me. The atmosphere of the entire dungeon felt nearly suffocating due to the overwhelming and dense mana in the air. I had expected that an unexplored dungeon would have a significant amount of mana, but this was beyond my usual expectations. In other words, there had to be some valuable artifacts hidden within its depths..

Even so, I still felt that my talents were wasted here. There is no one to save by obtaining these treasures... Although now that I think about it, if I found gold and other valuable treasures here, I could easily give it as a donation to help some of the Clover Kingdom's poorer citizens.

After all, father did say that I had first pick of what we found, so might as well make the most of it.

"Wow, what a weird place." Asta's eyes were filled with wonder as he looked at the awe-inspiring sight of the inner dungeon. Kyogre was floating about happily enough as he was taking large bites of what I senses was ambient mana.

'Contractor, I feel something weird about this place.' Kyogre suddenly said telepathically.

'What is it?' I asked back cautiously. Talking mentally was weird but then again it was not the weirdest thing I had to deal with thanks to my experience with Zelretch whenever that old bat wanted something.

'I feel like this place has a strong connection to the Divine. It is possible that there is something, or rather something, here related to the divine. If we continue from here, the situation could become more dangerous. Especially in regards to this Divine presence, I am sensing deeper in this dungeon that far exceeds that of a regular magic knight squad. I'd advise you and your comrades to proceed with caution from here on out.' the seriousness and authority behind Kyogre's voice sent chills down my spine.

In my reality marble, I have multiple divine objects so I knew more than anyone how even the lowest ranked divine objects could be strong and dangerous.

If, by some fluke, one of them happens to be something like a bomb and it is activated, it could very well bring the whole Dungeon down right on top of us. Worst case scenario, the burst of mam could not only kill us, as well as any people or nearby settlements in the near vicinity. It is also true that if some weapon with this attribute shows up in enemy hands, the Clover kingdom could suffer considerable casualties.

... Seems like I have no choice but to take this seriously. Even if I don't like this mission, now that the possibility of divine objects has been added to the mix, our mission just got a whole lot more difficult.

"-Here." I was shocked by a sudden spike of mana, fearing for an ambush, I turned to the others. My alarm soon turned to exasperation as the cause by the pulse of mana was just Luck. It seems that he had just stepped on one of the magic traps here and a badly covered one at that. It burst into flames that missed Luck but almost hit Asta if not for a quick magic shield by Noelle.

"Idiot, look where you walk." Noelle said while glaring at Asta. Well, that was until she turned to me or, better yet, at Tamamo who was currently pressing herself into my arm. "And you! G-Get away from him already. Can't you see that you are bothering him with this clinginess?!"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe he likes me being so close to him. After all, there is more in it than, well..." Tamamo said while hugging her body a bit more tightly and showing off a bit of her cleavage while looking at Noelle with pity. When Noelle noticed what Tamamo meant she hugged herself in embarrassment.

"T-That has nothing to do with what I just said! Besides, it is not like I am small or anything like it!" Noelle said as she unintentionally showed a bit more cleavage in my direction and...

Damn teenage hormones! Why is it so hard to deal with it more properly in this world?! It is the second time I go through this so why am I so much more affected than normal?!

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

Back in the palace, the Emperor is drinking some wine with a slight smile on his face.

"Oh, your majesty! Why do you grace us unworthy ones with a smile?!" One of the many, many concubines of the king.

The king smiled at her before reclining with his head on her toned legs.

"It is nothing, just that I can't wait to see my son's reaction when he figures it out." he said.

"Figure out what?" the concubine asked.

"That the members of the Kira family have an abnormally high sex drive and innately attract woman far too easily. There is a reason why the nobles are so strong and it is the genes that have been dispersed by the Kira family. Not only are we naturally handsome, but we also have naturally higher magic reserves than even most nobles. There is no question we deserve all we obtain." The king said with a laugh.

The imperial family's Kira 'branch' was the strongest not based on numbers but by the simple fact that they had the most connections out of all three branches. All because of the 'hard work' of their ancestors.

If anything, the current king not having three or four dozen kids spoke more on some defect on his part than of anything else.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

I don't know why but I feel that I need to get some damn good explanations out of my father later on.

I quickly noticed Asta looking over but quickly closing his eyes as he started to chant a mantra.

"Sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is the prettiest, sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is the prettiest, sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is the prettiest, sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is the prettiest, sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is the prettiest, sister Lily is the best, sister Lily is t..."

I ignored him after that as he just kept repeating the same words. Meanwhile, Tamamo and Noelle started arguing, while Luck was laughing at everything around him while walking towards us.

Sighing I took a step forward ready to stop everyone's crazy behavior. We have to finish this investigation quickly before something -

CLICK

... happens?

I heard the sound as soon as I stepped forward and I don't know why I still bother.

My E-Rank luck is rotten, expecting anything good out of me in a literal minefield is the same as expecting that golden bastard not to be arrogant or expect me not to kill Jason at the first opportunity, it just isn't how it works.

And so I was the only one who did not seem surprised or panicked, when a sudden flash of white light surged from my feet and many other places before the trap took effect. After using a quick trace, that the trap below us was just a small scale teleportation spell. So even if it is a spatial trap, the low quality of the seal and magic implies that it would merely randomly scatter us throughout the dungeon.

* * *

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw that the entire area around me was covered in darkness. I quickly used my grimoire to create a light-based mystic code that looked like a glowing sword.

"Hey, how about turning off the light if it is that weak. I bet this beauty genius here could do a better one anyway." I turned around at the sound of the voice, but I was not concerned considering I recognized who it belonged to. As they uttered an incantation, and I saw their magic, I knew my hunch was correct.

" _Innovation Creation Magic: **Luminous Bird**_."

And with that, a pack of birds releasing light scattered throughout the area and giving us more than enough light to make out our surroundings. Not to far away from me were two allies that I was more than happy to see.

"It has been a while, Azure Deer Vice-Captain Da Vinci." I said to the beautiful women in front of me (seriously, my hormones are getting way out of control here!). She has brown hair, blue eyes, and fair skin and her attire consists of a dress made with red, brown, and blue fabrics with a short skirt and puffed shoulders, brown shoes, a blue opera glove on her right arm as well as leggings that reach her mid-thigh (seriously WHY!), and a large, mechanical looking gauntlet with glowing green gems and gold spikes on the top knuckles, with gold trimming over all of it.

"Don't worry about it. It is just that you have your own schedule while my squad has another. Even if my captain isn't all that happy about it." She said.

I could not help but smile awkwardly at Da Vinci's comment. I could only imagine how depressed Rill must be over this. Walter trying to animate him only for Rill to bounce back into painting something only to get depressed again right after. He isn't exactly what one could call "stable" or strong at heart.

"Anyway, did you get sent here with a squad as well?" I asked.

"Yes, me, little Asm, and this little grumpy face behind me." She said while moving to the side to reveal her companion. It was a short man who barely looked 13 or 14 years old but I know for a fact he already is on his twenties. Due to a curse inflicted on him when he was younger, he ages more slowly than normal people.

"Humph, I suppose my entrance is in order even if not by choice. Yes, I am here as well, I hope you are glad to have an ally like myself." He said.

Looking at the small figure of this blue-haired and blue dressed 'boy' I could only smile.

"Yes, I am glad to see you in good health, Mr. Hans." I said to Hans Christian Andersen, a high-class magic knight and one of the most famous writers of the entire kingdom. In the end, most of the 'top brass' of the Azure Deer squad was filled with arts-crazy people that loved nothing more than to indulge in their respective artistic passions. "Anyway, do either of you know where the others are? The spatial trap we triggered was not especially strong so I assume that they are still somewhere nearby."

"I understand. Please give me a moment to try and found if there is anyone nearby." Hans said as he took out his grimoire. "Writing Magic: Word of Encounter." a pen appeared in his hand and with a flick of his wrist, the word encounter appeared. It stood firm while pulses of blue energy spread out around the cave, before receding back into it. The word then returned to Hans. As Hans touched the word, blue specs surged from it and into Hans' body, with this he stood in silence for a moment before speaking. "There are some people nearby, the two closest figures are getting closer and will soon run into us before long.

As such, I think we should hurry to the scene as a precaution since we don't know what we will be facing when we get there."

Da Vinci and I nodded in confirmation as we went to that direction in a hurry. The three of us prepared ourselves as it was not hard to imagine that this might spell trouble. We still don't know, who else besides us and our allies were here. If any of us happen to run into mages from the Diamond kingdom and they are strong, it could spell trouble for us. Especially, if they had magic that countered those of some of our allies. The idea of Noelle facing off with a lighting mage sent a chill down my spine.

Before I knew it, we had finally closed in on the two people Hans had sensed. However, once I saw them, I was at a loss for words. Of all the things I had thought could happen on this mission, this was not one that I had been expecting, not even in my weirdest dreams.

With a hoarse voice I opened my suddenly dry mouth.

"...Sakura... Rin?" I said with my eyes getting a bit wet looking at the two mages in front of me, who bore such a striking resemblance to the two people that I had failed so long ago.

After all, I could clearly see that Sakura and Rin were in front of me. Their presence and scents were a little different, but at least as far as I can see they ARE Sakura and Rin. Rin is wearing skimpy clothing and was more of a golden adorned bikini with one leg covered in deep blue stockings, large golden earrings, large golden neckleace, and a headband that looks casted out of pure gold. Her eyes are playful, but also disdainful look towards everyone.

Sakura is dressed with a large black overcoat that doesn't show anything of her body and I can't say what is underneath it at all, but her eyes are almost completely empty and lacking any sign of emotions.

However, I could not say I am happy seeing them here, after all, I could see their grimoires quite clearly.

Sakura's had one that looked like worms and other small beings covering a piece of dried skin with the symbol of the Diamond kingdom. Rin's looked like it was covered in various types of jewels and with the clear symbol of the Spades kingdom.

They are of enemy countries.

'Contractor!' Kyogre's voice rang in my mind as it appeared by my side, his eyes firmly glaring at Rin. 'This is the one! She is the one from whom I sensed the Divine presence from and not just any old spirit either. It appears as though she is connected to that annoying goddess, Ishtar, the goddess of beauty, good harvests, fertility, lust, discord, and war. Also a brat of the highest order.'

"Well, that is just rude." Rin said. "I am not a brat, I am simply above everyone else here, as well as everywhere else that is all." After she said that Rin looked at me some more before smiling. "Hey, you are the one who is connected to a divine beast, right?"

As she said that Rin opened her grimoire making my two companions even more tense.

" _Divine Magic: Divine Boat of Heaven **Maanna**_." streams of light flashed from her grimoire as ridiculously huge bow appeared in front of her. It was covered in giant gems and was as big as her whole body, but as I looked at it I could sense it appearing in my Reality Marble. This is a noble phantasm, and not a weak one either. If I ad to compare its strength, I would put it on the same level as Excalibur.

Crap, things could not personally get any worse.

However, fate had other plans as Rin turned to Sakura.

"Hey, I want to take this boy home as my own personal toy, so can you deal with the other two?"

A chill ran down my spine as I could not help but fear that something terrible would befall me if this Rin (or Ishtar considering what Kyogre said) managed to get their hands on me. However, it was Sakura that put more fear in me... no fear was not quite the right word. the sound of her voice was weak and broken to the point of being mechanical. It was almost like she was a broken machine, and that teared at my heart just seeing it.

"... Yes, you ally, they enemy, eliminating enemy is right so I kill them all. Conquer dungeon, kill enemies, take treasure to uncle Morris. Not fail or be punished." After Sakura said that her grimoire opened almost as if by itself as it blowed on an eerie light. " _Familiar Creation Magic: **Feral Flies**_."

From her coat, hundreds of little flies started to make their way towards me and the others.

I tensed preparing to create the Short Flaming Spear of the Great Leopold to deal with this but before I could-

"Let's talk somewhere else and leave the kids to play, shall we handsome?" Rin said as she jumped straight at me and pulled me back from the corridor where the others and I emerged from.

I tried to struggle free but it was already too late, she was just too fast and despite her appearance was must stronger than she looked. My reflexes and instincts are all over the place seeing these two in front of me, but I have to go back there! I don't want Hans and DaVince getting hurt and I definitely can't allow Sakura to be wounded.

That is something I just can't allow, not after failing her back then.

As Rin 'dropped' me to the floor she started floating around me with that huge bow of hers. I don't know if she wants to fight or not, but as a precaution I opened my grimoire as well. I need something that will not lose to her bow, something that can equal her in power but was not too hard to control as I don't want to hurt Rin.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: The Unfading Light of the Lake **Arondight**_." From the confines of my grimoire a sword bearing a similar design to that of Excalibur appeared in my hands. Fairy Letters were carved into the blade to show that it was a Divine Construct not forged by mortal hands. It is a sword without limits capable of receiving any attack without taking damage. It was given only to someone who could be exalted as the "perfect knight", the strongest, bravest and truest knight of its era, the unrivaled Lancelot, who stood out of all those who sat at the Round Table of Camelot.

In this case the sword in my hands is a nearly perfect copy, all my body is taken to a level above what it was before and it was comparable to Excalibur in pure power while being ridiculously easy to control when you know what you are doing. With this sword added to me using reinforcement and my natural body fitness you could say that I am more than strong enough to handle whatever Rin's bow could throw at me.

"Humm, interesting. Maybe you could really work as a good pet, be honored mortal." She said before moving her hand and from the bow dozens of light arrows made of energy were fired at me, but through my sensing of her Ki, as well as my natural reflexes, it was very easy to cut all the arrows to pieces.

However, even though I destroyed them, they still carried quite the punch. It was like I was trying to cut apart diamonds with each swing of the sword.

"Oho, you are quite good with that blade of yours. Quite nice, it makes me thrilled to imagine you wounded all over and the face such prideful warrior like yourself will show. Let's test that!" Rin said with an evil face, a face the likes of which I could never imagine on her. "Divine Magic: Divine Gems of Ferocity!"

As she said that about 30 or so rubies formed around her. As their scent hit me, I could tell that they carried an absurd amount of magic energy. She mover her hands forward and the gems flew at me at high speeds, I used Mana Burst (thankfully my magic circuits are more than strong enough for that and my magic energy is plentiful) to push myself back. I also moved my arms at high speeds to cut the debris caused by the explosions that ensued from her magic.

Multiple craters appeared around us creating a smokescreen that took up much of my attention while I cut away at the incoming debris.

BANG

Suddenly a small fragment of the ruby that was still intact and flew at me hidden among the debris. It veered around me, hitting one one of the hidden magic traps. What followed next was a chain reaction as the trap exploded, causing shockwaves that set off even more explosions. At first, they were only a fe weak ones, before they started growing in intensity as they surrounded and closed in around me.

I quickly moved my arms to protect my head while summoning multiple swords around me to form a protective wall. However, it was no enough and the swords I manifested were soon obliterated by the force of the explosions.

"You really are an interesting guy." Rin said as she eyed me. I was still standing tall despite the destruction around me, sword in hand as the burns that covered my body was quickly closing as Avalon healed me. "Yep, I am definitely taking you with me. Now, let's fight some more, shall we?"


	20. Chapter 19

Asta opened his eyes after the flash of light that almost blinded him, it still stang his eyes a bit but he had to see if everyone was alright anyway.

"Humm, so you are here too, Asta." A voice said from close to Asta and turning to look he saw none other than Yuno. Yuno was standing right by Asta's side but instead of welcoming he looked down at Asta for a second before opening his mouth again. "It must be nice, I heard that the ground is quite warm so you probably feel it quite a bit. I get a little chilly up here."

That earned him a glare from Asta who never liked much when others commented on his height. He was still a grown man and he was sure that if given one more year he would be even taller than Captain Yami, and stronger than everyone else, and married to sister Lily while being the magic emperor! He just knew it would be what would happen, especially the height part, he would not lose to Yuno at all, that is why he always drank his milk.

Not that he knew that Yuno was drinking milk as well as making stretches since he was 10 to try and make himself longer and taller, he would not lose.

However, during this staredown, there was suddenly a spike of energy and almost in an instant two crystals jolted out of the floor and almost pierced Asta and Yuno. The two only evaded due to sheer dumb luck that allowed them to move just enough to not get pierced by the attack.

The two quickly moved back and turned to see who is it that was attacking. The answer came as steps were heard as a figure approached them. It was a young man of average height with a slim figure, pale skin, and well-defined muscle tone. He has light purple short hair with a spiky hairstyle and a lock falling down at the middle of his forehead. He has a pair of pink eyes, but lacks any eyebrows. Additionally, he has a few turquoise-colored mage stones embedded on his forehead and chest. Three of them are located at the center of his forehead, arranged in a vertical position with a larger crystal in between two smaller-sized crystals, another crystal is also embedded at the center of his chest. His attire consists of a skintight vest and cropped pants over a black jumpsuit. Lastly, he has a black fur coat on top of his outfits. The coat has approximately the same length as Mars' height and it has several crystals embedded on the outer side of the coat.

His eyes were steely and fixated at the two in front of him as he opened his strange grimoire that was something that looked like a mix of two grimoires together like Shirou's, but his grimoire was a crude attempt in comparison at best.

" **Crystal Creation Magic: Talos Puppet Cluster.** " as he said that about a hundred or so copies of himself appeared, all of them glaring at the two magic knights in front of him. However, it was not all. " **Flame Creation Magic: Phoenix Fiery Aura**." As he said that the copies of himself made of crystal as well as himself were all covered in flames that made even the stones around them melt a bit.

Looking at it, the terrible situation considering they were outnumbered by the sheer number of copies the enemy summoned and with a large problem when about the element used that would make Asta's body covered in a large heat from the magic used and also would make Yuno's own wind magic less effective as it would make the enemy's flames stronger.

The problem was, neither Asta nor Yuno seemed to realize that, no, neither cared about those pesky little details in the slightest.

"This is a match Yuno! We can see who will be the next magic emperor by who defeats this guy first!"

"Humph, idiot. I already am a step ahead!" Yuno said as he had controlled his magic to form a thread-like form and pierce the first enemy.

" **"Wind Magic: Piercing Tornado.** " As he said that the small thread increased in size instantly and blew a hole through three of the copies like they were nothing.

Meanwhile, Asta was not someone who would just stand there. He had launched himself at the enemies and used his sword to sweep at two of them at once before kicking the blade's flat side to redirect it to another direction before using it to attack another two of the enemies. When the blade hit the ground he used the momentum of the blade to launch himself forward, his swordsmanship had long since started to improve properly due to Shirou's advices and Asta's own sheer tenacity to grow stronger.

* * *

On another place, a lightning bolt was running from one side to another at extreme speeds.

"WHOOO HOO-HOO! THIS IS FUN, I'M ENJOYING THIS A LOT!"

… Needless to say, it had been confirmed that Luck was having the best time of his life, his hands covered in lightning claws as he moved to take down his enemy that was almost impossible to hit.

The one in front of him was an older mage named Lotus Whomalt, he was an experienced mage and had plentiful experience from the many battles between Clover and Diamond kingdoms. If one were to describe him, they would see him as a hairy middle-aged man with medium-length black hair. He also sported a mustache and a goatee, which only covered his chin. One of his notable features would be a huge scar, in the shape of a straight line, that crosses his upper left chest to his lower right chest. Additionally, he wore a headpiece on his forehead, which has three diamond-shaped ornaments, positioned to the right side of his forehead.

Lotus' attire consisted of a tunic and trousers. His light-colored tunic was loose and had a large V-shaped collar that showcases his chest. On top of his tunic, Lotus wore a three-way black belt, which was supported by his right shoulder. His trousers were light-colored and two black fabrics protrude from the waist to his tights with diamond-shaped ornaments at the end. Furthermore, Lotus also wore a pair of black boots with furry collars. Lastly, Lotus wore a coat over his attire. The coat was divided into two colors where it had light-colored fabric for his torso and sleeves while the cuffs and the rest of the coat were dark-colored. Both black lapels have three diamond-shaped ornaments on them.

Though, none of this even registered on Luck's face in the slightest, all he had on his mind was 'Enemy! Fight! Maim! Kill!'

His opponent took a chill sigh as he stepped back, his grimoire floating in front of him whilst smoke circled around his form. "Geez, these youngsters sure have it easy... always so spirited and useful..." he remarked, rubbing the back of his head in a mix of fatigue and amusement. Seriously, he often envied the kids who had their youth back, those times would be the best times of a man or a woman's life. That was a lesson one learned when they reached his age. He eyed the smaller blonde kid before him who stood atop the a wall, his feet cloaked in lightning boots to attach himself there. His lips twisted as a whistle followed suit. "Reminds me of myself when I was their age... Wasn't always this good looking, even if my wife and three daughters disagree..."

"WHATEVER, I DON'T CARE AS LONG AS I GET TO FIGHT STRONG PEOPLE! IT'S FUN, SO WHERE'S THE HARM IN THAT?!" Luck exclaimed, already becoming a Lightning bolt and shooting towards him with the speed that a Lightning bolt would typically possess. He'd also reared back his right lightning claw in an intention of ripping him in half through a downward slash.

Quickly as well, Lotus had his smoke conceal him completely again and move out the way just in time to avoid the strike of one of Luck's claws. The result, that claw slamming into the ground with enough force to cause a massive crater, all the while his claw created several bolts of lightning which scattered in all directions, something which Luck had developed so nobody would be able to counter attack so easily as they would have in the past. "#Whistle#, that's a pretty nasty attack alright. Whew, makes me glad I can avoid it, even if it's doing the whole draining magic power thing..." The man remarked again with a tired smile on his lips, scratching the stubble of his beard.

All the while, Luck just laughed in happiness, his eyes that of someone who had a loose hold on sanity itself whilst Lightning sparked all around him. "HAHAHAHA! YOU'RE REALLY STRONG, JUST LIKE I THOUGHT! NOT LIKE THOSE WEAK SUBORDINATES OF YOURS!" He exclaimed, before he went and did something which... confused and surprised the older man. Instead of attacking him again, Luck instead deactivated one of his lightning claws, then put his hand in his pocket. "WANNA SEE A NEW MAGIC TRICK? A FRIEND OF MINE HELPED ME OUT BY BEING THE TEST DUMMY FOR MY NEW TRICK!" Luck stated, cackling when he remembered all the times of when Shirou and Magna got scorched by this new technique he was about to show.

Pulling out from his pocket, what looked to be a copper coin, Lotus raised a brow. Years of fighting experience told him to be wary, as whilst he may joke about a lot, one didn't get to his age without learning a thing or two. This helped him realize that there might be more to this kid than meets the eye, especially when he saw that devious glint shine in those wide, insanity-like eyes. "Oh? Is it a trick suitable for kids? Cause if so, my daughters would love a new magic trick." he questioned, although all he got for an answer was Luck putting the coin on a closed hand above his thumb and aiming it at him.

"HAHAHAHA! I GUESS SO, MAYBE NOT, WHO KNOWS? FIRST TIME TRYING IT ON AN ENEMY, SO I CAN'T HOLD BACK THE POWER! TRY NOT TO DIE JUST YET OLD TIMER, I DON'T WANT TO STOP HAVING FUN RIGHT NOW!" Luck exclaimed, his happiness reaching the borderline of madness as he flicked the coin upwards. Whilst it spun into the air, Luck's arm began to vibrate, sparks of Lightning crackling along with its form at every angle, which sort of raised alarms in the man's mind since that kind of stance made him realize something would be going HORRIBLY wrong in the next few seconds.

"HAVE A TASTE OF A NEW LIST OF RANGE TECHNIQUES! SHIROU HELPED ME GIVE IT A NAME: **LIGHTNING MAGIC: RAILGUN**!"

Just as the coin fell in front of his finger, Luck flicked it to send all the built-up lightning into the coin, launching the metal object 3 times the speed of sound right towards his opponent with a loud BOOM ringing out from the point of impact. Shirou did tell him his Lightning Magic was formidable, but its main weakness was that he hadn't many ranged attack options, most likely due to his desire to be up close and personal when fighting. After all, one's personality directly influenced their magic, so changes in their character also worked as such. Such changes had given birth to a whole new set of options for Luck, thanks to Shirou, and this Spell would be one of a few new tricks he'd made with his lightning. Of course, his primary move set would mostly consist of close combat abilities, that would never change. Now he just had a LITTLE bit more of a bite in ranged combat.

He wondered what Shirou was doing right now, was he having as much fun as Luck was? Especially when he saw how his opponent looked to have evaded but with a small scratch on his face.

Luck wasn't dispirited by this 'failure' however, he was simply exulted as this meant one more chance to show another cool magic he developed when he had thought about things after his fight against Shirou. His reaction wasn't as fast as it should to make use of his speed, Luck realized that he was too simple and straightforward so he decided he needed a way to ensure he would be able to react to the enemy.

Being caught unprepared was fun, catching an enemy that believed he found a weak point and countering him was better. This new magic was one that almost made Luck beat Shirou one on one for the first time, it was the best!

" **Lightning Creation Magic: Godspeed of the Rebel.** "

And with that Luck vanished from the spot he was. Lotus looked in shock as he failed to see where Luck had gone, but that only lasted an instant as he suddenly felt an extremely hard and piercing impact in his belly due to Luck punching him there.

Before a full second went by about fifteen more strikes were made and Lotus' body was thrown away like a pile of flesh.

Luck, however, did not let up on his magic and remained in a position to attack.

"I guess you might be young but you are smart for battle." Lotus' voice said as the smoke in front of Luck turned into Lotus' appearance, his 'corpse' dissipating into smoke.

"So you really did not die." Luck mentioned.

"No, no, I did 'die' as you might say." Lotus said, his hands trying to 'placate' luck by making a defensive sign. "It is just that my magic is a tad special, you see. My smoke and I are one and the same when I use it, what you did was just enough to kill my 'original body' even if that was just a bit more smoke that was happed to look like me. This is my magic **Smoke Creation Magic: Smoke Awakening**." Lotus explained. "That means that for you there is no real way of defeating me except for tiring me out by destroying enough of my clones that my magic runs out or by dispersing the smoke itself."

"Than it is easy, I just need to keep fighting you to the death until you really die, old man." Luck said as his magic took effect and he again disapeared before appearing in front of Lotus and attacking his 'body' again. This time, however, he barely escaped unscratched as spikes made of smoke surged from inside Lotus' body and almost caught Luck by surprise.

However, despite the close encounter Luck was smiling like mad, this was just so much fun!

* * *

In yet another area things were, well…

"This is all, I guess. But seriously, my sister really is a troublemaker." The voice that Shirou would call Rin's was released from a mouth that was from a body equal to Rin's own, with the only stark difference being her blond hair with the ends being slightly red. In one hand she was using a spear made of her **Divine Nether Magic** with the properties of sealing and locking in place anyone that was hit by it as well as a small capacity to manipulate both the earth and lightning. Her name was Ereshkigal, the vice-general of the Tercera General Ishtar.

And yet, despite being the only one talking she was not the only one there. In fact, there were two others there, one was a mage from the Azure Deer squad that went by the name (add name and description).

And yet, the last one there was the most troubled one. It was none other than the loyal friend of Shirou, Klaus. He was currently on the floor with his body covered in holes created by some stones that jutted out of the floor by his enemy's first attack. He had used instinctively a defensive steel magic but despite his elemental advantage, the enemy was too strong for him. Things didn't improve much considering that after he was knocked down wounded Ereshkigal, with one swift move, cut his left arm using her spear sealing his body in place.

Thus he was forced to stand there bleeding out while the enemy was right in front of him and him unable to do anything but listen.

"Don't you agree?" Ereshkigal asked the downed Mozart Amadeus. "She really can wait to screw everything up in any flight of fancy, and she doesn't even thank me when I fix her mistakes and make sure nothing bad happens to her. N-Not that I REALLY want her thanks, but if she were to give me I would probably accept."

As Ereshkigal kept talking and showing her cute tsundere tendencies Klaus could only think one thing deep, very VERY deep down.

'She is kinda cute.'

Of course, he would never really say this out loud. She was, after all, someone from an enemy country invading the Clover kingdom's territory. But cuteness is cuteness and it is justice.

However, the next few words were enough to make his blood run cold.

"Sigh, I can only hope she finishes up with whoever it is that connected with a divine beast. I just hope that this time she doesn't end up killing whoever it is, especially if said person is a royal or something like that. The bureaucracy to deal with a situation like that would be all on me for sure and I don't want to be buried under a pile of paperwork."

As he heard that Klaus remembered something, on his mission debriefing it was said that his majesty Shirou would also be participating and that he should ensure his protection (even if no one really said that it was something implicit as far as he knew). Adding to that the mysterious beast that entered a contract with Shirou and the talk about someone who also just so happened to be contracted to a beast and the image on Klaus' head became crystal clear.

His majesty was in danger.

The sister of this cute girl (not that he would ever admit she was cute) was likely fighting his majesty. While Klaus had no doubt in his mind that Shirou would inevitably emerge victoriously (for Klaus the image of Shirou losing just did not make sense) there still was a chance that he might end up injured even if slightly. If Klaus were to be so close and Shirou ended up injured without his knowledge again he would never forgive himself, he already hated the fact he so spectacularly failed him during the whole debacle with Blackbeard so now it would only be worst.

'Move, MOVE my body! We can't stay here, we have something we must do. There is no time to waste.' Klaus thought but to no avail as his body was firmly planted on the ground. He wanted to move, he had to move and go rescue his majesty, his friend, his best friend.

To stand in this place without being able to do anything was simply unforgivable for him, how could he be a knight if he couldn't even move to do his duty when he was most needed.

Tears of frustration dropped from his eyes, frustration of his inability of doing what he should be doing.

' _Barely passable, I suppose._ ' A voice said in his mind, it was deep and regal like if it belonged to an old knight that had withered the test of time but still stood tall regardless of everything else.

'W-Who is there!? Show yourself!' Klaus tried to yell but his immobilized body didn't allow it.

' _Don't shout for no reason, human. You are worst than my last contractor if this alone is enough to make you distressed but I do admit you look somewhat like him even if he was an elf._ ' The voice said. ' _I shall also offer you the same I did to him, are you willing to sacrifice everything you have for power? Would you sacrifice everything for more power?_ '

'No.' Was Klaus immediate answer. 'I could never sacrifice everything for power, if I did I would have to sacrifice my loyalty as well, that would be unacceptable. My existence is to protect the crown prince, I decided that and I will follow that. So, if you won't be helping, whoever you are, then don't disturb me. I have to focus on using my magic to transport me in this state to where I must go.' Klaus answered, or at least he thinks he did, before trying to summon his steel magic to create a metallic horse to move.

However, this was not to be as the voice continued.

' _I see, I see, this is excellent. Someone who doesn't have loyalty and would discard everything for power isn't worthy of being contracted to me in the slightest. Yes, you would do to at least help me recover my powers. Be grateful that the divine presences in this place from a part of the sea god presence together with the war and beauty goddess and the nether goddess were enough to arouse me. Now, call my name and the contract will be sealed._ ' The voice said as information was forced into Klaus' head.

He saw it, a prideful figure walking through the walls of a castle, his mane like steel as this divine-like horse fought the invaders to no end by the side of his contractor, two ore allies with him as the three thought to their utmost to defeat the invaders. The horse beast being idolized by hundreds of peasants but he wasn't moved by it, he and his master existed for protecting the kingdom they were in, they were protectors first and foremost.

Chivalry was in their very being.

And the name of that divine-like creature that Klaus felt more magnificent than any other was-

" **COBALION**." Klaus said, his first actual movement since he was touched by that spear.

As he said that the ground where he stood changed, from it a magic circle appeared and it was extremely elaborated and pristine. Its color was a metallic silver one, polished to the extreme and all its lines looked like strokes of a sword.

And with that the contract was sealed, Klaus could feel the invisible bindings that locked him in place were being undone as he stood up under the shocked eyes of Ereshkigal. The pages of Klaus' grimoire opened by themselves as the magic circle on the ground floated up to it and slowly fused together with the grimoire, a whole new text appeared on a previously empty page as the spell activated by itself.

Klaus could feel his reserves of magic energy dropping by half just by bringing out this spell but as he looked ahead his breath was taken away by what he saw.

It was a quadrupedal beast that was internally made of metal and that the appearance possesses traits of stags and goats. It is covered in aqua blue fur, and has jagged yellow horns similar in shape to thunderbolts. Its snout is a lighter shade of blue than the rest of its fur, and there is a black blaze running from its nose to the back of its head. On its long neck and hind legs, there are small gray spots. It has a white tuft of fur under its neck, resembling a cravat. On its shoulder blades are yellow protrusions that resemble fins. Its tail resembles these protrusions, albeit in the same color as its snout. Its legs have black bands with lighter fur underneath and large black hooves.

However, the most important aspect was that this was a solution for Klaus, he had to move, he had to go and move towards Shirou by any means necessary and this being that he summoned (not created, he could sense he did not truly create this one at all) would be key to it.

Before Ereshikigal could properly react Klaus had jumped at Cobalion, however, Ereshkigal did manage to make a rock jump to the ceiling and touch Klaus. However, instead of injuring him it only rips away at his cloak and shirt.

The next attack missed entirely as she turned away with a blushing face and covering her eyes.

'He, he is so hot! N-N-N-Not l-l-like I think that or anything but it is just a fact that he is kinda sorta acceptable to be called hot. And that his toned body is just right and his face looks col TOTALLY did not call my attention, yep definitely not paying attention to any of that dreamy body.' She thought to herself before remembering her position and his right now. She was an invasor of another country who was likely helping her commander do something beyond stupid, she had to make sure that her sister finished her business already and get the hell away before old man Julius or that crazy drunk Yami showed up, and especially before that creepy Vangeance appeared as she didn't want anything to do with that creepy at all. He was just wrong in her eyes, like every action of his was lying somehow.

However, the speed of Cobalion was much, much higher than what she expected. She could only watch as Klaus ran to his destination, blindly as it might as sure as hell he didn't know where Shirou was located.

She could only look in surprise as she decided to move too, she could sense approximately where her sister was and she would have to go there quickly.

After she left no one made a sound except for one certain magic knight that was forgotten there in the back, he was standing very still for a while and when he was sure no one else was there he mover again. Cleaning the sweet from his eyes he said.

"Yeah, I am not going in the middle of that at all. Thankfully my presence is quite thin otherwise that crazy strong mage might have killed me, seriously she is at the same level as captain! No, no, no, I am not getting involved in any more of this. I will just go and look for the treasures, that was my mission after all." Thus he said as he moved to the opposite direction from where Klaus and Ereshkigal went to. What he and the others failed to notice was that this was not merely a dungeon but a space dungeon where the space was never quite right. Moving forward might mean going back and turning a left might man going forward, this was the trouble of this dungeon.

Honestly speaking this dungeon was made to make regrouping troublesome, a nasty piece of work that was made to specifically ensure that only the strongest or more intelligent ones would get out, after all, there still are many traps here that no one saw yet that are not to be taken lightly.

Even if-

"MY MAJESTY!"

Some people-

"I AM COMING!"

Really didn't consider the feelings of the designers of this dungeon that would be crying upon seeing how someone just ran head first into at least a dozen traps without pause or consideration as he trampled them without a second thought or realizing they were even there as Cobalion continued running quickly and yet elegantly. Klaus' only big luck was that no bigger trap had activated around him as of yet, he wasn't that unlucky.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

Why? Just why.

Why is it that he barely moved in this place while avoiding Rin's ranged attacks and already five golems showed up from magic traps to try and trample me and a few times vines appeared on the floor to lock my legs in place while also depositing poison in them, that is not to talk of the sudden flames hitting my back and ice spears that appeared from the ground every few seconds to try and pierce my stomach.

Honestly, why is it that I seem to be activating all magic traps in this place? Even Kyogre that is by my side is getting out Scott free as there hasn't been a single trap that aimed at him but almost all traps aimed either at my head, heart, of crotch during this entire time.

Curse my E- Rank Luck!

I blame Zelretch.


	21. Chapter 21

Everything was going to hell around me. Rin was just as incapable of subtlety as I remembered but if before she would use a Gram on me just because he forgot that it was the birthday of the first time we met (her words as I honestly did not have a clue if it was really that day or her just wanting to attack me for who knows what reason, tsunderes on her level are as impossible to understand as Ea) now this version of Rin was using a Noble Phantasm of sorts to launch magic strikes that, if hit, would likely create wholes in my body then and there.

Honestly speaking, if not for Avalon constantly healing me I would likely be much worse for wear than I currently is right now. And that is not saying so much since he was having to avoid not only her but an infuriating amount of traps that keep coming his way with nearly every step he takes.

"I need to remember to give Captain Yami a new Katana as thanks, without his help I would be screwed by now, literally." I said to myself as I used ki to detect when a spear sprung from the ground and nearly screwed my heart out just as I finished avoiding another strike from Rin.

"Hey, hey, hey, use an attack already or I going to bore to death here, to your death that is." She said with sadistic glee as she started raising her amount of magic strikes without a care before her grimoire turned its page. " _Divine Magic: Divine Gem Wall._ "

As Rin said that a wall made of gems appeared in front of me just five or so meters of distance. I see, she intends to box me and force me to stop.

Well, she is out of luck.

Using a mana burst I flew at the wall and with my physical stats raised by Arondight I used the wall to redirect myself as I jumped against my current momentum and flying right at her at high speeds.

"Huh?" She said surprised before smirking. " _Divine Magic: Gem Sword of the War Goddess._ " As Rin said that a sword made of... yep it is a sword made of a huge diamond.

CLANG

My Arondight and her weapon hit one another, our two weapons are of equal level and as the two hit one another they both break as both are not real weapons and just constructs and while mine is based on a powerful Noble Phantasm hers is, apparently, a godly weapon made of a diamond, the hardest substance on the world. However, even so there is no real problem since I already have a plan for this.

As her movement to stop me manage to stop me in place for a second it was enough as the pages of my grimoire turned and I readied by next magic.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: The Lord of Execution **Kazikli Bey**_ " As I said that a spear appeared in my hand, the spear in question is the basic manifestation of this specific noble phantasm belonging to Vlad Dracula, a Romanian hero who screwed 20000 of his enemy soldiers to terrify the opponents into leaving. A terrifying man who became known as a monster by his actions, synonymous of a vampire despite not being one, but still saving his people and thus could be thought off as a hero.

Its true effects are to create spears, a total of 20000 of them to be specific in anywhere including inside the body of an opponent but that is not how I will use this. I am not going to hurt Rin, I refuse to do this, so instead, I do this-

As we are close I use the spear in my hand to create stakes from all around us to lock her in place as there is one around each joint of her body, making them unable to move properly or at all. It would not stop her for long but a moment is enough as I only intended to stop her for a second as I focused to create spears from the inside of her own weapon/Noble Phantasm and effectively destroyed it. Considering this is a magic instead of an actual artifact she can remake it without much of an issue but just by stopping her for a second she already cannot do much of anything as her magic is forcefully dispelled by my spear.

"Wha!?" She said but despite sounding surprised she doesn't really seem mad, instead, she looks happy as she reinforces her body as her grimoire pages turn. "Good try, but what will you do against this? _Divine Magic: Perfect Gem Boby_."

As Rin said that her body glowed a bit and she moved despite the stakes supposedly stopping her in place, breaking them like if she was a berserker breaking out of chains.

"Now, what will you do? Entertain me more, heir to the Sea God." She said but I turned my gaze to the side and could not look straight at her right away.

I mean, how can I look at her right now?

"Huh? What is it? Never seen someone so pretty before? My beauty blinded you?" She said smugly while throwing her perky breasts (seriously, my hormones are crazy!) forward in pride.

"... Not quite." I admitted while looking back directly at her face without taking my eyes off her eyes. She took a step back when she saw me looking so serious at her eyes only.

"W-What is it? Why are you looking at my eyes so intensely like that? Is it because they are pretty?" Rin asked.

"Well, your eyes are indeed pretty but I am looking right at them because I don't know where else to look now." I admitted, at the first part she was quite happy to hear and a bit embarrassed but the second one made her curious, until she looked down.

Let's just say that the stakes managed to avoid hurting her body by very, very little and that by moving she ended up breaking the stakes as her body became invulnerable but everything else she was using wasn't and that her moving forced the stakes to scratch and rip away everything else.

Meaning, she is stark naked right now.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... KKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She yelled as she crouched down to hide her own body, a part of me got a bit sad at the loss of the eye candy but the rest of my consciousness beat that part of me away with righteous anger at the thought.

She is a friend, only a friend even if she doesn't remember me right now.

Maybe I could see if I have a way to jolt her memories back, but how should I go about doing that? Maybe Asta's anti-magic could work, it is worth a try but to find him will be hard, he doesn't have any magic trace and in a labyrinth-like place like this dungeon is finding him will be hard.

And so I stood there without knowing what to do, well except for one thing really.

With my magic, I created a copy of the mantle of Hades without the ability to turn invisible by modifying it slightly, as soon as I had this at hand I threw it at her.

"Use this, at least with this your modesty is protected." I said while still looking to the side, even if I was paying extra attention with ki to sense if she tries anything.

I heard a shuffle of clothes and after waiting a second more I turned and saw her using the cloth like if it was a towel after bath.

"... Thanks."

"... You are welcome."

The mood continued strange like that until I saw her shaking a bit before yelling.

"IF YOU SAW MY CLOTHES BEING DESTROYED AT LEAST GIVE ME A WARNING!" I was going to answer but she reacted first. " _Divine Magic: Bull of Heaven **Gulgalana!**_ "

She created a being I never saw before, it was a bull of four meters tall, just as tall as the passageway we were. The bull was made of electricity, the body is completely dark, it has blue horns, four spine protrusions, and two golden colored stripes. I heard of it before, it is probably based on Gulgalana, a divine beast that was the familiar of Ishtar and one of the biggest challenges of that annoying golden bastard.

This one is probably just a construct and it obviously is limited in size to the size that is available around us, but it still is dangerous.

"Gulgalana, go and kill him for me!"

Rin yelled.

"Isn't that too much?" I could not help but yell back as I saw Kyogre flying forward and expanding before hitting its body in a tackle against Gulgalana.

"Shut up! Because of you, I can't marry anyone anymore! What will you do about my maiden heart?! You will take responsibility!" She said as her grimoire shinned and turned its pages. " _Divine Magic: Divine Boat of Heavens **Maana**_." She said as that accursed bow appeared in front of her.

I could only sigh, hoping things don't grow any more chaotic.

"MY MAJESTY!" A voice could be heard from the distance as... Is that Klaus sitting on a giant blue stallion made of metal and coming my way?

Not knowing what to say I could only stare in shock as he came to me but could not stop in time as he ended up rolling me over.

"My majesty, I am so sorry!" He said as he got out of the blue stallion and looked me over while I winced in pain, I could not avoid being hit by him due to how fast he came and not expecting him to actually hurt me. "Oh, you fiend how can you hurt his majesty Shiro-sama like that?!" Klaus said, ignoring that he was the one who ended up rolling over me.

"But it was you that-" Rin tried to say as Klaus continued.

"Silence, I know what I've seen and you are an evildoer that will be punished properly! Prepare yourself." Klaus said, his cheeks a bit red from embarrassment from the fact that he truly is the one that actually hurt me, but I chose not to say anything as I looked to see if anyone else was about to roll me over when I noticed a blond version of Rin not so far away trying to hide just as terribly as I remember her being able to while speaking.

"Cool, not that I think that of course." Blond-Rin said.

Sighing I could only ready myself for the continuation of this combat. If this Rin is the same as the one I remember, then she is likely to rampage for a while before going somewhere else to sulk at the offense before starting to set up her personal revenge.

Sigh, even here she is a bit of a handful to deal with.

But, I am more worried about Sakura. Her state there, it is not natural. I can just hope she doesn't get injured or injure someone else, she is a sweet girl in the end and hurting others always cause her to feel pain inside.

* * *

At another location, Sakura was currently facing the two senior magicians from Azure Deer, the high-rank magician Hans Cristian Andersen, and the vice-captain, Da Vinci. Sakura was not really moving much as her cape moved about, from it hundreds of insects were coming out without stop as she didn't really change her magic for quite some time due to she not really needing to do so. It was an efficient and powerful magic after all.

"How much longer?" Hans asked with some sweat rolling down his forehead as he continued holding up his barrier. As soon as Shiro was caught and taken away and the attack started Hans and Da Vinci moved without any communication as both knew perfectly well what should be their next action. Hans has used his _Writing Magic: Words of Protection_ in which he had to write words related to protecting one after another to create a barrier, the fewer repetitions of words the stronger the barrier and the longer it would last.

He had used it to protect himself and Da Vinci as she prepared her own arsenal.

Da Vinci's magic, Innovation Magic, was probably the strongest and weakest magic there is. She can create any magical artifact as long as she has it well defined in her mind with all aspects, in theory, she could even prepare a magic artifact that could defeat the magic emperor or any other captain making her one of the strongest magic knights ever.

The problem is that only when the image is perfectly described in her mind without any incongruence as well as having another minor inconvenience. It was due to that that she usually always went out with Hans, his protection magic was amongst the strongest in the entire nation and, with it, he could cover up for her while she readied the most ideal magic artifact for whatever situation the two were in. Hans was also amongst the best when it comes to buffing and debuffing others even if he was terrible in the offense, he was the definition of a pure support type.

"Ready." She said excitedly as she came from behind Hans, if before she looked like a beautiful woman in her late twenties now she looked about 19 years old with a jetpack in her back and flamethrowers connected to her arms. Her magic had the inconvenience that she would look younger the stronger the magic item she used is, it is said that if she were to look like an 8 years old or so girl it means that her magic artifact is strong enough to let her fight in equal terms with Julius or any other national leader but that would also mean her physical capabilities would be reduced so she'd still need support. Aiming both hands forward she activated her magic. " _Innovation Magic: Super Flaming-chan_."

Yeah, she also had a terrible naming sense.

But her magic artifact was anything but terrible, her Super Flaming-chan released a torrent of all-encompassing flames that quickly started consuming not the bugs but the magic energy they were made off. She didn't know if the familiar bugs were actually fire-proof or not so, knowing they are made of magic, she made her _Super Flaming-chan_ aim right at this fact.

But seriously, the name sucks.

Sakura, seeing her familiars being devoured by flames, did not show any reaction in her eyes as she changed the pages of her grimoire.

" _Familiar Creation... Magic: **Stone** **Maggots**_ " Sakura said and from in front of her the ground shook as worms made of pure stone and of about 60 centimeters tall started appearing from the ground. Da Vinci aimed her weapon at it and fired, but it didn't do much as the worms continued moving forward and they started appearing in the ceiling and the sides as well.

The mouths of the maggots were closing in and the two magicians started getting a bit worried about it.

"I guess we have to go with plan B." Da Vinci said, her weapon wholly inadequate for the enemy ahead. She was someone who could be the strongest when she had time to prepare but in the fly she is just not that good. They could still fight, true, but there is still plan B.

"... Fine, we know what we want here anyway." Hans said as he prepared his next magic. _"Writing Magic: **Swiftness of the Wind**_ " As he said that both himself and Da Vinci shinned in a blue color before setting off to plan B.

Run away to fight another day.

"..." Sakura stood there a moment longer before she dispelled her magic, the smaller than one-centimeter maggots that were controlling the rocks around them to make them look like they were that size dissolved just like that.

She did not care about anything but completing her mission, even her life was not as important to her as her uncle Moris has told her to do something and she would do it. Anything else was not important by sheer comparison, if she had to kill 10000 to get there she would and if she did not have to she wouldn't, she was little more than a machine right now as the magic stones implanted in her made sure to leave any pesky emotions out of the way of what she had to do.

* * *

If things on Shirou's end were bad, then the things on Asta and Yuno's end would be considered just as bad if not worse.

The two boys, each having sustained an unimaginable amount of injuries on their persons respectively, stood on one side of the field, panting unevenly. Asta more so as he stood with his legs spread apart and his massive black rusty greatsword held in front of him, his arms heavily scratched and bruised from the battering he had endured. A trail of blood ran down the side of his face, with his eyes remaining as sharp as they ever were as he glared forwards/ He lost a portion of his clothes, such as the right leg of his pants, the left arm of his shirt and some of his Black Bulls cape ad been shredded so far, but despite his heavy injuries he still remained standing. Yuno looked to be on a similar note, although his injuries almost served to be like a mirror to Asta's with his Grimoire floating on the opposite side of him too.

Before them, on the other side of the room, stood mars, staring down at them with blank, cold and unyielding eyes, the feeling of condescendence radiating from his very being. He stood atop a pile of crystal, his Grimoire floating by his side. Normally the two would have been able to get close to him, but their current circumstances prevented that from happening. Such circumstances consisted of these tall, humanoid Golem-like creatures made out of crystal, forming a rather large, expansive army which, whilst nearly mindless if it weren't for their master controlling them, kept the boys from getting close. Asta would try to rush through directly, since he was the type of guy who rushed into things headfirst without taking much consideration of strategy, only to get knocked back every time. On the other hand, Yuno fared a little better since his Wind Magic afforded him some ranged attacks, however, the Crystal Golems kept on resurrecting themselves with constructs always blocking his sneak attacks against Mars himself.

Needless to say, both boys had a tough situation on their hands.

Oh yeah, and each Golem right now had been all covered in flames no less whilst they set about advancing upon the two younger magic knights. So yeah, a swell time these two weren't having, one could say.

Currently, Asta growled in frustration, swinging his blade around in a wide arc. This allowed him to slice through an approaching Golem which had tried to strike him down without much effort before he had to jump to the side to avoid a fist from another Golem. Landing on the ground, he raised his Sword up to block a fist aimed for his head, throwing it upwards before twisting clockwise a full 360 degrees, bringing his sword down on the fiery golem and pretty much slicing it clean in half. "Grrr, this is getting us nowhere…" Asta growled under his breath. "This won't end unless I get to deck that asshole over there in the face..." Whilst he would be regarded as an idiot outside the battlefield, thankfully once he got INTO the fight his true intelligence shone through. As such, he didn't think it wise for him to continue swinging his sword around like this since it wouldn't be harming Mars any.

As he thought about this, Asta quickly noticed another Golem approaching him from his front right, with another coming from the opposite direction. As such, he quickly formed a strategy in his head, let them get in close and then slice through the two of them. His sword would be large enough for something like that to happen, after all, he had done this before during the beginning of this fight on a stroke of pure luck (although if one asked him he would highly disagree and call it his 'greatness shining through for his sister Lily).

Just as he made to jump forwards to strike at the approaching Golems however, a torrent of flames the size of a small house almost hit him from the back. Fortunately, he managed to swing his sword in an upward slash to cut through it easily enough, but the bulging vein on his forehead pretty much symbolized his 'happiness' at almost being turned into an Asta-kabob. As such, he shot a glare towards the perpetrator, multiple tick marks over his head with his eyes white to show his anger.

"Yuno, you idiot! Look what you are doing!" he yelled, his teeth that of sharks.

Yuno glanced over at him, looking at Asta with a face which pretty much stated 'nonchalance' in the purest manner possible. As someone who generally didn't show much emotion, kind of like a machine in a way. he served as Asta's complete opposite. Whereas Asta remained loud and boisterous even in the face of danger, h kept his composure as cool and collected as the breeze which served as his weapon. He knew well how his Rival acted due to this, their opposing natures serving to tell them apart as easy as taking candy from a baby. As such, he knew just how pointless it would be to argue his case with the hotheaded idiot, hone who'd remain convinced it was his fault to the very end, even if he tried to explain how he had only deflected it towards his direction accidentally. Though it wasn't like he worried about the guy, he had the strength to spare.

In the end, after deadpanning against him for a moment, Yuno turned away from him to face their approaching enemy, his Grimoire at the ready as gale force winds began spiraling around his arms.

"I don't know what you are talking about." he stated bluntly without any tact, only triggering the fiery Asta's rage further.

"Liar!" Asta yelled, which was more like the way he speaks all the time really. But, he was not wrong.

Yuno, upon seeing that his wind magic wasn't that effective against the enemy's crystal soldiers by itself has decided to try something slightly different. By directing the wind he made the flames on the soldiers larger to the point where he broke the crystals. This was why he was surrounded by an inferno of flames, but he made sure to circulate some air around him at all times to keep the flames out and what sweat he had he used his wind to dry just to look good.

That is why he was looking smugly at Asta who was sweating profusely, that is, until he noticed that Asta had defeated 37 soldiers while he had defeated 36.

"..." Yuno looked at Asta a moment longer before redoubling his efforts while chanting in his mind 'I will be the magic emperor; I will be the magic emperor' over and over again.

Mars, who was looking at both of them, moved his grimoire's pages.

" _Cr_ _ystal Magic: **Nemean Armor**_." As Mars said that an armor made of crystals covered and protected his body. Not only that but he also continued " _Fire Magic: **Flame Claws of the Phoenix**_ " With that his hands were further covered with a secondary group of armor, this time only gloves made of pure fire with the fingers elongated and looking like solid fire.

These two magics, when combined, could improve his physical aspects many times over. It was a remarkable combination really, combining the defense of the Crystal magic and the offense of fire magic with boosts to the user's specs. With it Mars darted to the center of the action, pouncing at the 'easier' target, meaning Yuno.

Yuno's magic was strong, that was undeniable, but Asta's sword was an anomaly as it was negating magic after magic far too easily and Mars didn't know how to deal with it properly. In terms of 'abnormality' Yuno would be classed as the least abnormal of the two because of the previously mentioned aspects surrounding Asta's capabilities. 'You will go first...' he thought, eyes wide as he attempted to thrust his right hand towards his chest.

However, before he could hit the black haired mage, Yuno found himself being pulled to the side curtsy of him manipulating his wind magic, ending up close to his rear right flank. This dawned on the Mage, and Yuno quickly a capitalized on this in the following second. He abruptly focused his magic into his right hand, making it assume the form of a sword before he gripped its 'hilt' tightly, slashing at Mars' side. Sparks flew around as the Armor was nearly cut through by the attack, but unfortunately for Yuno, the Armor stood strong in the end.

This caused Yuno to frown as he jumped back, avoiding a reverse swipe from the man's right claw, before he unleashed a torrent of wind to blast the guy back when he attempted to thrust his left claw to try and impale him again. As he did this, Yuno noticed several Golems launching large blasts of flame at him, so he quickly created a cyclone around himself and had the flames follow the generated current, creating a shield made out of both wind and flame as a result. This didn't last though, as he quickly made the whole thing erupt into one massive wave of wind and fire, shattering the Golems around him whilst also knocking Mars back even further. This wasn't the end of Yuno's offensive though, especially when his Grimoire began to glow as it switched to the relevant page. " _Wind Creation Magic: **Wind Blade Feather"**_

Around him, multiple blades shaped like feather formed form his Wind, getting launched at Mars from the front. Mars, of course, generated some Crystals from the ground in front of him to block them, then kicked them to launch them as projectiles back at Uno who flung his arm to the side to generate a wind gust which deflected them as well. These projectiles impaled several fiery Golems, causing them to stumble as Asta finished them off. He did so by smashing through their heads multiple times at once, leaving behind destroyed crystals in his wake.

Speaking of Asta, the moment he saw Yuno fighting Mars, his furry increased twofold as he jumped in., heading straight for Mars with a furious yell erupting from his vocals... making one wonder just how much they must ache from yelling all the time. "Hey, no trying hog all the glory, Yuno!"he bellowed, swinging his sword in a horizontal arc towards the guy's closest shoulder.

'...'

Mars just noticed Asta advancing with a cool head as he drew back, not willing to let that blade touch his armor as he feared it might shatter and making a new one would cost him energy. He noticed that his army of golems failed to keep Asta at bay. It looked like he wouldn't be able to use his army for much longer if this kept up, so he had to finish this quickly, thus, with that in mind, he mentally sent them the order to destroy Asta as soon as possible.

His Golem Army began to rapidly advance onto their position, to which Yuno and Asta continued fighting him whilst occasionally destroying those of the Golems which got too close for comfort. They met their ends either by the massive swings of Asta's Sword, or the ranged attacks coming from Yuno's Wind Magic abilities.

Unfortunately for Mars, things were slowly getting worse and worse for him, as the more they fought, the smaller his Army became, since Asta's blade proved once and for all that it would not yield to the hands of any magic, annoying as it might be.

It carved through the opposition to its edge without any kind of prejudice, making it so that it looked like some kind of all-devouring cleaver. Not to mention that, thanks to Asta and Yuno's teamwork (well, more like the two kept trying to one-up one another which conveniently helped them gain an upper hand, so calling it 'teamwork' would be stretching it a little too much), he kept having to waste energy to keep them at the ideal distance of him.

In the end, he got a bit annoyed despite the crystals that were repressing most of his emotional responses, so he started to improvise.

At that moment, he began unleashing a wave of Crystals at the two, wanting to finish them off right then and there. Asta and Yuno could only see a wave of crystals that almost covered the entire hall they were in and advancing at them, all crystals with pointed tips and ready to screw and cut them into ribbons. Yuno, seeing this, sent multiple streams of air that he turned into hurricanes with fine manipulation of air, making massive holes in the wave of crystals but it was not enough. That was when Asta, taking advantage of one of the holes Yuno created, entered it and rushed forward until he busted through the other side. Yuno, in turn, took advantage of this and rushed through the hole Asta helped to complete and kept the hole wide by using the wind to force it open.

Mars, seeing this, decided that he had to take things further or the result might not be positive for him. With that, he turned the pages of his grimoire.

" _Crystal Magic: **Laevathein**_."

He called out when the weapon manifested itself overhead. It had a crystalline base, as well as sported a size which could split this entire room in half, the blade looked magnificent and huge in proportions... in essence, not a sword which one wanted to get hit by, which had been the intention behind its creation.

Asta however, gave no such fucks as he charged at him, howling one loud war cry which shook the entire room with how loud it had been, yet Mars and Yuno had their attention focused too much on the battle to note that. The formed brought his hand down as the massive crystalline sword swung downwards, striking forth like the hammer of the heavens themselves, intending to smash Asta into a bloody pulp.

On the other hand, said sword wielder howled as he clashed against it, his Anti Magic Sword briefly pausing in its momentum when the huge form collided with it... before it simply slammed right through the weapon, allowing Asta to continue his charge unimpeded once again. Raising the sword, the loudmouth made to strike Mars down, said man howling as he male to throw a magic-enhanced punch at him...

Only for a purple haired female to suddenly appear right before him and launch a magic attack against him, one which took the form of a swarm of flies the size of a human's hand. The attack got aimed towards his torso area, and she intended for it to knock him back away from Mars...

"Move it, lady!"

… Sadly, Asta refused to let this chance skip by, so instead he just twisted into a spin, deflecting the attack with his blade before swinging it into her side without holding back, causing the girl to gasp as she got sent flying through the air, spinning like a wheel. Not giving her more attention, Asta closed in on Mars, and when he tried to resist him, the loudmouth bypassed his last weak strike before slicing him diagonally across the chest.

Asta sighed in relief as he saw that he managed to hit both Mars and the purple haired woman with his sword. He was about to relax when the buzzing of insects started sounding all around him. Looking he saw that hundreds of tiny flies around him. he tried to stand his arms when he noticed he couldn't and as he tried to see why he noticed that he had been bitten by one of the bugs, it was when he hit the purple haired female and the bug's bite had a strong anesthetic effect that numbed his arms instantly.

He looked up and saw how all of those bugs were darting at him and he was getting worried about how to deal with them when a tornado started spinning around him and blocked the bugs while protecting him.

"You really are hopeless, Asta. I had to save you again." Yuno said as he stood close by, his face as smug as it can be while looking at Asta.

Asta could not reply as he focused on getting the feelings on his arms again. It took about 10 seconds but the effects of the anesthetic wore off and with this, he was free to attack again and it was just in time since a sword made of crystal hit the barrier and almost cut him in half if not for him managing to raise the sword in time.

Yuno, meanwhile, had to evade as multiple shots from fleas almost pierced through him if not for him evading just in time.

Looking at this both could see that Mars and Sakura were standing back up, the two had hands in their heads like if a headache was coursing through their heads but the gems that were put inside their bodies forcefully kept them moving despite a repressed part of their minds starting to awaken.

Asta and Yuno were ready, they would not back down in the slightest and they would keep fighting.

BABUMP

They would win this fight!

BABUMP

BABUMP

They began to move again, not noticing two pairs of eyes that were stirred awake by the divine energies in the dungeon looking at the two with high interest.

It was at this moment that an explosion rocketed the walls that had stood firm despite the magic flying rampant, the dashing duo of Asta and Yuno could only stare in awe as the figures of a giant bull made of a storm with golden horns and Kyogre broke the wall, the epic fight the two could see with these beasts and the fight between Shirou and Ishtar was enough to make the two shocked, the proportions of that fight were much higher than what either could do at the moment.

And yet, the most shocked one was Sakura. As she saw Shirou and Ishtar she could remember the dreams she had growing up, the only bright spots in all her life that existed despite the gems that locked away her emotions and made her little more than a doll when she was awake. In those dreams she remembered seeing Ishtar, she was bossy and liked to order people around but as the two came to know one another again after years with the help of Shirou she could remember the care Ishtar, no, Nee-sama showed her.

And as for Shirou, he was her light, perfect in every way and he was understanding to her always and cared for her always, he was gentle, kind, strong, valiant, nice, perfect, he, he was her.

"... sempai?" Sakura said, the gems inside her working overtime to restraint the emotions that had been released momentarily after the impact of Asta's sword in her.

And, despite the chaos of the battle and the intensity of it all, despite the distance and despite her words just now be more a whisper that even those right by her side should not have been able to hear, Shirou turned his gaze at her and as their eyes crossed her confusion seemed to dissolve even as the gems continued doing their best to turn her back to a broken doll.

His gaze, as he looked at her carried care for her wounds, worry over her situation, gentleness like none could hope to match, and resoluteness to save her despite anything else. It was just like her dreams, he had the same gaze that always made her feel that she was cared, that he was HER hero.

"Sempai!" She shouted, but as she did so the gem inside her entered its safety measures, forcing her to pass out while sending a signal to her caretaker.

* * *

On Luck and Lotus' battle, the situation was not going well for either of them. Luck's speed and power were superior by an overwhelming margin but his power was being seeped away rapidly by the smoke around him that was draining him of his energy. Meanwhile, Lotus was also annoyed as his energy too was being seeped away as his body was constantly being hit by Luck and despite his magic being quite powerful, it spent a lot of energy to form and reform his body after an impact.

They were about to pass out together when Lotus felt the signal gem in his body sent him the worst possible message.

"No, it can't be." Lotus said as he turned and ran away, not carrying in the slightest even as Luck followed him. He knew perfectly well what that signal meant. He had to go and rescue Sakura before it was too late. If he did not have her back in his custody within the next ten minutes then not only her but everyone in the area would die as she had a magic bomb implanted in her body to the case her emotions were recovered as Moris could not risk her going back being herself.

His plans revolved in her continuing as his puppet, after all, she was probably the most important person for Moris in this dungeon and if she was to awaken her memories and emotions Moris would rather have her die than risk it. She was that important for the Diamond kingdom, she was, after all, the first and only heir to the throne, the most useful puppet of Moris after the king himself.


	22. Chapter 22

"Sempai?"

As soon as those words entered my ears, the world froze for me. My heart, the very organ which gave me life in this world and ensured that I would be able to pursue my goal of being a hero practically stopped. Not literally as that would have meant I would have died, but it sure as hell felt like it. My body involuntarily shuddered, and it almost felt like my lungs had suddenly tightened up as I soon found it difficult to even breathe. My eyes shrank into saucers, my palm becoming sweater than normal as a very ABSURD possibility, yet one I secretly yearned for yet hoped wouldn't come to pass, formed within my mind. 'No... Don't tell me that... no, it can't be...' I thought to myself, yet a part of me hopes beyond all l hopes that its true. Its like hearing of a cure to an incurable disease. I wanted to believe that it was true but I didn't dare to get my hopes up, since they could then get crushed by the cold boot of reality.

Slowly, like in those horror movies where the victim turns behind them just to get a glimpse of the thing that kills them, I turned my head looked at the direction of the voice and there, lying on her back staring right at me, I could see Sakura. She had gems encrusted on her skin, her eyes were a bit hollow and she was not using the clothes I am used to seeing she use, but she is undeniably Sakura.

The moment that I heard she say those words. the words I heard so many, many times that I can never hope to count, a whole SWARM of memories, memories which I had almost forgotten since I got reborn into this world, rushed back to me like a tidal flood erupting from deep within my consciousness.

Memories of myself, in another life, waking up one day and getting greeted by the warm, smiling and bright face of a certain purple haired girl. The girl makes me and my adoptive guardian breakfast, which fills the house with the warmth and comforts of home. Thinking about this, makes a wave of nostalgia and warmth form in my chest, as well as causes a smile to slowly spread onto my face. Those times... they may not have been as eventful as most of what happened in that world's future, but I cherished them much more than most of the 'amazing' things that happened before or after. The simple joys of the closest thing to an actual normal life than I ever dared dream about.

Back then, I didn't even take into consideration how much I took her for granted, as much as I valued our friendship. The saying that one doesn't know how much they have until they lose it rang true here, and it had been one of my bigger regrets. A fact made all the more bitter when I remember how her life ended, one more of my failures and possibly the most terrible one I ever had.

But, more than that, just from her murmuring that name while looking at me like that... it proved something to me that I had hoped for a long time: that she remembers. Well, its more like I don't know how much or if it is just a shadow of a memory from our previous life, but nonetheless this alone means just so much, so very much, that I cannot ignore it. Just as much as I want to be a hero who helps the people around him, if I ever got the chance I'd reunite my old friends from my past life back to the family we once had... so we could experience those tranquil moments once more, even if only for a fleeting instant.

As I see her passing out right after saying my name though, it's like one big wakeup call. My brain instantly reboots itself from that moment of nostalgia, bringing me back to the current reality that I was in. I feel my veins run cold and my eyes sharpen, I need to save her, I refuse to fail her this time around.

If anyone stands in my path to saving her, to doing what I failed on my previous life, I will pass through them regardless.

Rin is on my way for my previous actions, as she is throwing a tantrum, which isn't going to be making my new task any easier to accomplish. I will have to get a bit rough with her since I knew how she is personality wise, but I hope she won't go crazy because of it later, and even if she does I will not care for now.

Sakura's safety takes priority.

As such my Grimoire's pages turn quickly, I need to deal with this quickly.

"Weapon Creation Magic: Earth Marionetter Sol" With that a pair of gloves cover my hands, from it threads appeared from my fingertips and launched all around the area.

Rin looks curious at my sudden action but by the time she realizes what I am intending on doing it is too late as I pull and the ground and the ceiling comes down to press Rin and Gulgallana.

'Keep steady for a while, master.' Kyogre said on my head as his body shined and around him, multiple blue dots appeared and, from them, a barrage of water canons came into play destroying the ancient monster. I guess that it being just a construction made of magic does have its drawbacks as its capacity to take hits is much lower than actual living beings, in exchange, they never really die I guess.

Regardless, I move to use my trump card to deal with Rin. I throw a dagger at her.

BOOM

She breaks through the rocks completely and catches the dagger quite easily.

"That is it? This is the best you can do? A simple metal dagger?" She asks mockingly but I did not care, I just activated the dagger and poof she went away.

Throwing Knives Finral, gotta love them.

Not waiting for a moment more I darted towards Sakura, she is passed out cold and needs help. Before I even got to her I activated my next magic.

"Come out Avalon." I said and the fairy spirit of Avalon, the everlasting Utopia appeared by my side, the spirit looked at me exasperatedly.

"Master, you should understand that we are in a combat situation. If I am away from you I cannot help you in healing." She said and I only stared at her.

"I know, I will manage, just go already." I said and she shook her head before going to Sakura, as she got there she flashed in a holy light and started healing Sakura as well as ensuring her safety.

With that set I turned to look around, right now the only enemy here is a guy that Asta and Yuno are facing against, with a thought on my head my grimoire changed pages.

"Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: Down With a Touch Trap of Argalia."

A cavalry lance originally belonging to the prince of Cathay and later put in the possession of Astolfo, this weapon was extremely useful in my eyes. Pulling my arms back I reinforced it with both this world and my previous one styles before throwing the said lance straight at the enemy. It pierced right through all his golems and anything in its way before piercing the man's shoulder and going right through it, leaving a hole that only let a small strip of flesh connecting his arm to the rest of his body.

He is from the Diamond Kingdom, I need information about them and he can give it to me, one way or another, thanks to the ever-useful help of Marx.

Not to let it up I turned the pages once more.

"Weapon Creation Magic: Prideful Lion Spear Fuegoleon" As I said that the red spear appeared in my hand and I activated its secondary ability by planting it firmly on the ground, flames in the form of class surged from the ground to restrain the enemy.

Not stopping there I continue.

"Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: Chaos Sealer Gleipnir." As I said those words a cloth came out of my grimoire and covered the man just as some of his golems were about to reach him to likely save him.

It was too late. Gleipnir, as it so happens, is the chain that could imprison and lock away even something as strong as the Fenrir, the mythical wolf that could slay the Gods. I found out that this item, while costly to summon, have the pesky ability to seal magic energy completely. It is an A+ Rank Noble Phantasm and is not a sword so it costs a lot out of me, but I need this man alive for me to know more of Sakura's situation.

With that set I turn to see if there are any more enemies but it was unnecessary as the last enemy, the blond Rin, is currently sitting on a chair made of, as unbelievable as it may sound, bones.

I look curious as she doesn't seem nervous at all, this all happened in a matter of five or so seconds but I can see that blond-Rin is not nervous even as Rin disappeared.

And then I saw it, ripples of gold appeared close by and a shot of pure energy came right at me.

"Mythical Weapon creation Magic: The Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens Rho Aias!" As I said that seven petal-like shields appeared in front of me to defend. It was very fast but I luckily still managed to block it.

CRACK

CRACK

CRACK

Three of the seven petals broke and I could sense my insides being damaged by this. It hurts like hell, but I still managed to hold on.

"You insufferable idiot! You actually teleported me away? I will make you pay for trying to run away from responsibilities!" Rin yelled as she appeared in full, she was standing on her magic bow and I could see that she is pissed, the sheer amount of energy she is releasing is just as big as captain Yami, no, it is just as great as Julius in sheer amount.

Tsking I prepared myself to reenter combat as she launched a new bolt of light at me, blueprints of what the next weapon would next surge in my head when someone took action before I could.

"OOORRAAAAA!" Asta yelled as she jumped at great speeds in front of me and used the blunt part of his sword to reflect Rin's attack. "We are also here, how can you just ignore the next magic emperor like that!?" Asta yelled, does he ever speaks without yelling?

"Humph, third-rate stand aside, this is about me and that man over there." Rin said pointing at me just as Yuno intervened.

"Third-rate? Sorry, but there is no 'third-rate' person here besides you." He said before activating his grimoire. "Wind Magic: Rising Tornado."

He launched a Tornado at Rin who smirked and was about to just launch a simple bolt of light when she noticed a tiny, small problem.

She was only using the cape I gave her and Yuno was using wind against her in this state.

"KKKYYYAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Rin yelled as she crouched down, holding tight to her clothing as she turned her grimoire pages. "Divine Magic: Divine Gem Wall." As she said that a wall of gems appeared in front of her. "Safe." she said with relief as the magic was blocked.

"HEY!" A sudden yell came from one of the very few corridors that are still intact as the figure of none other than Tamamo rushed out and went straight at Rin. "The only one who can flash his panties at Darling is me, you thieving cat!"

"..." I don't even know what to comment, but thankfully there was someone to do it FOR me.

"Is THIS that you are focused on right now?" Noelle's voice sounded as she too entered this space, by her side there was, yep it is Mimosa.

"Maa, maa, Noelle, no need to worry so much. I am sure she doesn't really mean anything by-"

"Oh, you two help, me too!" Tamamo said, cutting out what Mimosa was about to say. "I must beat this girl who was trying to flash my Darling and, as the first wife, I cannot let that happen. So help me deal with this thieving cat, mistresses 1 and 2!"

Mimosa's smile after that was, honestly speaking, not what anyone can call a smile. Normally Noelle would react badly at these words but she is more worried about Mimosa by her side.

"Noelle." Mimosa said calmly but Noelle still almost jumped out of her skin from fright. "I never realized this before but I would really like to have a fox coat, what do you think?"

... Let's not get into THAT argument for as long as humanly possible, I am not suicidal at that degree.

"Your Majesty!" Klaus said loudly as he approached me in his horse, he then jumped out of it and put his hands in my shoulders with a sad but proud smile. "I am so glad to hear you got married, it is a shame that I was not there for the ceremony but I will give you 200% of all of my support."

... You know what, I do not know HOW this situation could get any worse.

And, just because I tempted it I saw that the ground started shaking and glowing, another teleportation magic?

Shit, damn you my E-Rank Luck!

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes and, around us, I can see mountains of gold and the sense of a lot of powerful items could be sensed. Honestly speaking it is overwhelming in how much power is over in this place and the mana is so concentrated that if not for me being used to sensei's power when going serious on our spars going all out (even if I can't say if he was truly going all out or not).

I wanted to say or do more but, before I could really do anything, a clash of power could be sensed behind where I was looking. Just from the smell alone, I can say who the people fighting are. Normally I would be much more worried or even actively try and do something to stop it on a more positive way, but truth be told I am just tired already.

Seriously, I need to look after Sakura's situation and there is the whole wanting to understand the situation with Rin. Even if blond Rin or anyone else calls Rin some other name I know her just too well, her explosive temper and way of acting is just too Rin to be anyone else. That plus Sakura situation, yeah I am tired of this whole thing already.

Normally I try to avoid doing this, it is wasteful when in a fight as it expends quite a bit of mana (something I usually avoid despite usually never using more than 40% of what I have) and makes me feel too much like that bastard inside but it would useful right now. At least with this I am sure NO ONE here will continue fighting.

Turning to my back I can see Tamamo, talismans in hand as multiple elements keep flying out at Rin who keeps fighting with no real sign of her energy being depleted despite our previous combat. The two have levels of mana that are similar to my own, truth be told, even if mine still is a bit higher than theirs and in the whole kingdom the only ones with more or equal mana to my own (according to the last measurement about two years ago, dunno how much more my magic developed since then) are sensei, Yami, and Vangeance, so the fact that I have more than most others is nothing strange.

Taking a deep breath I call upon the full power of my grimoire. I won't hold back in my mana for now, I need this to stop so I won't go light at all.

One sword

Two swords

Five swords

Thirty swords

One hundred swords

One Thousand swords

Five Thousand Swords!

Five thousand blades of all manners of sizes appear behind me as I continue creating sword after sword without limit. After even I lost count of how many there were I change it, at this point even Rin stopped what she was doing and focused her attention back to me but it doesn't matter as I just continue purring energy and after the projections of all swords I could muster appeared, tens upon tens of thousands of swords with most being mundane, some being scimitars, some being bastard swords, some being short swords, some being long swords, some being katanas, some being just rocks in the form of a sword, some being noble phantasms, some being regal, some being bloodthirsty, some being magic, some being demonic, some being holy, some being crude, some being closer to works of art, and I just focus on all of them.

I could just launch them all just like that, but this is not how this magic I am using worked, the result of my years of training under sensei, the result of all my hard work and the reason as to why I would not call myself on the level of a captain yet.

After all, what captain would be unable to fully control his own magic to the point he might cause entire mountains to crumble to dust?

As I focus on all the blades and on my own hand I put all of them, their unique makings, their history, their glories and failures, their essence as swords, all of it on the front of my hand.

"Weapon Creation Magic: One Sword EMIYA."

As I said that the sword in my hand took form. It was a simple blade, one you could find anywhere, there didn't seem to be absolutely anything special about it.

The very image you get when you imagine SWORD. But, to any person who asked how it looks the image would be a bit different.

This is a sword that is the very definition of a sword, it looks like the very idea of sword to anyone looking because it is just that. It is the one sword that defines me in my entirety, basically it is the concentration and condensation of my previous world's Reality Marble and all it's contents, the entire existence and everything that made the man known as EMIYA, the counter guardian, and myself as Emiya Shiro, the fool who never stopped trying to save everyone and that will never regret it.

A sword that even Alaya wanted as one of it's strongest guardians. It is not a weapon I could use on my previous mission at all and only because we are on somewhere I know where I am aiming that it can be used.

I need both hands to hold this blade, the weight of the blade isn't that great but the 'weight' it carries to me is just that great. It is so much so that I can even feel that the gravity and space around the blade are twisting a bit.

With this sword in hand I give it one swing, that is all I did as I swing down my blade on the space between where Tamamo and Rin were fighting, that is all. I only spent my energy into making this blade and nothing else. However, that was enough as I see the space where I swung it being completely cut open with the cut widening as it traveled forward.

* * *

3° Person's P.O.V.

In the distance, on the city of Hamslock near the border betwwen Clover and Diamond the guards were talking between themselves.

"Have you heard? Princess Sakura is to be wed to Prime minister Moris' son, you know, the second youngest of the Eight Shining Generals, General Atrum."

"Yeah, I heard of that one. Not surprising really, it is known that she and him have been intimous multiple times. I even heard that he once took her on the middle of the palace just because he felt like it and she didn't really go against it."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I did hear that she might be a slut that never shows any emotion. Not that it matters, if she can produce more heirs to the imperial family that should be enough."

"Hey, is it just me or it there a weird light coming our way?"

"Let me see."

And that was the last thing these guards and the rest of this entire city said as they were all cut out of existence by the sword blast from one single swing of Shiro's strongest blade. Not only that, everything in an 18 kilometers from it to one single point was cut clean off, everything was cut out of existence starting from that single point of Shiro's sword being swung to that city, later that place would receive many rains and would become a whole new lake that would make many new cities grow, especially since no beast got within three kilometers of that lake as they all feared it instinctively.

Feared the sensation of a sword pressing against them that their instincts warned them about.

* * *

Shirou's P.O.V.

Yep, that worked well enough. I can sense the sword stifling a bit, I guess the limit of only ten swings is still in place as I still haven't mastered it.

As everyone stopped to look at me in mute shock I spoke up.

"This ends here, any more fighting will not be allowed. Those from other countries, get out of my country right now. Don't test my patience."

These words likely irritated Rin.

"And why would I-"

"Shh, big sis please let's go." Blond Rin said as she put her hand over Rin's mouth. "Even if you want to continue fighting we shouldn't even BE here! The empress will already be irritated and if we keep this up she just might send the Primera or Segunda to discipline us, again."

A shiver went down Rin's back as she heard that.

"Okay, we will leave for now but it is not because you are strong or anything, idiot. I just feel like leaving, that is all. Besides, next time I will not be so lenient and will show you the full power of someone who also has the blessings of a God!" After she said that the bow in front of her shot a different colored arrow and a golden portal opened in front of her and she left from it.

Blond Rin looked to the side and locked eyes with Klaus.

"... Sorry for my sister. I hope next time we can meet in better circumstances." She then gives a small smile and leaves just like that, her face blushing all the way.

You know, this all started abruptly and ended just as much.

"Wow, not bad." A lazy voice said from close by and taking a look I could see a man close to where Avalon is holding Sakura to heal her. The person who spoke up is a white man with black hair and bear looking very nervous right about now. His forehead is covered in cold sweat even when he is trying to look calm. "Sorry, I will get out right away your majesty, but could you release our princess here?" He said pointing at Sakura.

"... No." I said simply and directly, there is no way I can just let someone I don't know take Sakura away. I don't know of her situation but she definitely was not normal the first moment I saw her. She was twisted in some way and there is just no way I'd let her be taken to the place that did that to her.

"Well, now that is a problem." He said. "Kidnapping the Crown Princess of another kingdom is asking for war, you know?"

"Regardless, the answer is still no." I said. "I will not let you take her back to Diamond. Besides, we are enemies anyway and if I wanted to declare war on Diamond for invading my lands and attacking me I could."

It was true, I might not like the whole Royalty thing but I am not stupid when it comes to this. Both Fuegoleon and Nozel made sure to firmly imprint in my head about how this sort of thing works, they even expressly commented about what I should do in case I were to ever decide to kidnap a noble lady or princess of another country.

They said something about how my tendencies would likely result in that at some point so they gave me direction over what to do and those said that I should never show weakness. Be domineering throughout or they will not listen.

"Well, now that is a pickle." He said. "But you see, there is one thing I know that might change your idea. If she is not taken back right away she will die for absolute certain."

"... Explain." I said.

"Simple, one of our generals has an magic called Explosion magic and another General has Contract magic, we used both to put an special magic inside her. If she is taken by the enemy an explosion begins from her body and destroying everything in a large area, killing everyone around her together with her. Also, killing her would have the same effect, normally there wouldn't be a problem but some of the seals on her put by the Contract magic have been broken so she needs to go back to Diamond right now or she goes kaboom with you." The man said.

... That could be complicated. Perhaps if I use Rule Break I could do something about it. But, what if it fails?

Damn, I don't know if what he is saying is true or not and, in case it is, what to do to salvage the situation. I bite my lips with enough strange to pierce the skin and, for an instance, my control over EMIYA diminishes a bit and, thanks to that, the ground around me is cut a bit by the energy released by it by this moment.

"Avalon, is what he said true?" I asked and from the 'globe' where Sakura is right now.

The spirit's cute head 'popped' out of the globe and spoke up.

"Unfortunately, master, this man is correct. While I can't confirm everything he said I can tell that most of it seems about right from what little I could observe of her. She has at least twomagic powers inside her that I cannot remove and I don't know if it is even possible or good to try as one of them is clearly holding the other just barelly, if it gets any worst the second magic will act up for sure."

"..." I stood quiet, the voices of the others kept ranging in the distance even if they were close but my mind refused to listen. All I could pay any attention to was in keeping EMIYA in place and, more importantly, what I should do next.

The images of my past life, of all the time I failed in protecting Sakura due to my ignorance of her actual sittuation, of the times she smiled while waking me up on that dusty shed and would help me cook, and especially at the end when she died in front of me while I was unable to do anything to help.

I, I will not fail her again. Not now that I know what is happening to her. But, I must not be hasty.

A magic should dissipate after the user dies, that is how most magic works anyway, so if I were to go and kill whoever are those two Shining Generals I should be able to rescue her for certain.

But still, the taste of bile from how repulsive this action of mine is can't seem to leave my mouth.

"... Fine." I said between greeted teeth, a revulsion of the fact that I was letting her go back to that place even though she would likely suffer because of it. But, if I want to see her alive I don't have other options. Before the man could say anything else I pointed my blade at him and his face froze in absolute fright. "But, if at the time I go to Diamond she is hurt even slightly you must know that I WILL make you pay for it."

The man nodded and I removed Avalon from Sakura's body, she is now fully healed even if she still should not wake up for a while yet as her mind must be beyond tired. The man went and took her and was about to go to the other man I had captured, but when he got close I pointed my sword at his outstretched hand and two of his fingers were cut out of existence then and there.

"Don't test my patience, go." I said, Kyogre now behind me and it's pressure falling on the black-haired man who quickly nodded and left from the hole I made.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

After that Shirou directed everyone into taking everything they could quickly as the dungeon was likely to fall. They all left this place, none noticing the three small shadows, two of which entered Yuno's grimoire and another one entering Asta's. The one that entered Asta had some problems with the 'big boss' of the grimoire but they came to an understanding in the end regardless.

What no one there knew was that Shiro had already set his decision in stone. He would go back, sure, but he would do so to investigate all he could about the Diamond kingdom to know what to expect. He was not going to talk to anyone about this, this was his fight and his alone.

He was going to go to the Diamond Kingdom and would kill those involved with the situation regarding Sakura. He would kill those two Generals of theirs and bring her home safe and sound, even if he had to turn the entire kingdom to ruin and kill hundreds with his own hands, he would still do it. And that would be the day when Shiro would be known world-wide for far more than just the crown prince and as a saint.

His name would be associated with the near-total destruction of the Diamond kingdom, one of the four great kingdoms, by himself alone. His fury, on that day, would become legendary.

* * *

On a hill near the capital city a man was taking a nap. He is a man of average height with long, messy, light purple hair and a blue eye. He wears a dark red bandages that covers his forehead and left eye with a light green eye ornament on top of the latter. Similar bandages are also tightly wrapped around his neck with the tattered end dangles in front of him. His attire consists of a dark red tank top with a right sleeve and trousers of similar color. In addition, he also wears an elbow sleeve and a glove on his left arm. Moreover, Rades wears a big belt around his waist with a strap attached to it on both sides. He also wears a dark-colored bracelet on his right arm and two light-colored bracelets on his left arm. He wears a pair of boots with two light-colored stripes on each of them. Lastly, he wears a tattered cape that covers his body. The cape is held together by a button on his right shoulder.

"I guess it is about time." The man said as his subordinates continued hard at work in the construction of the teleportation magic circle. "Kekeke, soon enough Clover will remember my name and master will obtain the next piece that he needs. Now let's go, Fran, Xiang, Darius, Michael, and all my other slaves. We must prepare ahead of time for the moment of strike. All for the sake of Licht-sama and the Eyes of midnight.!"

This man's name is Rades, one of the members of the Eyes of Midnight and the one responsible for this operation. Behind him a man stood in vigile as he continued waiting to see how good the Eyes of Midnight Sun really is.

"..." The man didn't bother to say anything, he knew that his objective would be to watch only unless provoked or in case the group was worth siding with. Not that his help wouldn't be a gigantic boon, after all, he was still a man close to the level of the magic emperor of Clover Kingdom.

His name is Karna, the Primera General of the Spades Kingdom.

* * *

In he Heart Kingdom a discussion was taking place inside an ornate and regal room.

"Mother, are you sure you want to go as well? Wouldn't this be too hasty?" Arthur asked his mother who simply ignored him as she continued to pack her bags herself.

"Umu, you should not worry so much brother of mine. Just think of this as a chance to show those from Clover the explendor of our family and kingdom." The second princess, Nero, said beside Arthur with a cheerful smile.

"Even still, to have our sovereign go there with just two of our knight Captains as escorts besides me is a bit..." Arthur said with a bit of trouble on his face.

"You shouldn't worry so much, brother of mine. You are decently strong enough and the other two captains are your seniors, you should trust them more, umu." Nero said.

"Even still-"

"Ph, shut the hell up you wuss." Mordred, who had finally managed to bite through the gag they put on her mouth after she started to act up from the reasoning of this mission, said to her brother with a snarl. "If mother dies for some stupid reason that just means I get to take the throne sooner. Besides, mother is almost as awesome as me, she can handle herself anyway."

Arthur, seeing his oldest sister acting up again and speaking nonsense while still trying to break the chains locking her could only sigh.

Regardless of everything else he had to make sure this visit was as much of a success as possible. At least Gawain and Galahad were going together, he even heard that the daughter of Lancelot is also part of the squad going with them.

Her name was Mash, right?

Oh well, all that mattered was make sure the talks go well and to see his sister get into a proper marriage already and Arthur already knows who the best bachelor for this is.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, it was hard to get the right inspiration.**

 **Anyway, a lot has happened and we can see a bit more on what is going on with Sakura. After the invasion on the capital arc it will be a filler arc where Shirou will invade Diamond by himself to rescue Sakura and give them some well deserved punishment.**

 **In another topic, the sword Shirou created. The EMIYA sword, the quintessence of everything all Shirou is put into one place. It has a rank Ex+ in power but is much too hard to use and it spends a lot of energy to make and some prep time to cast it. Don't expect it to show up all the time but if I were to make a comparison of it's power you all can imagine it being in between the spear of Karna when going all out without his armor and Ea of Gilgamesh but Shirou being able to use it multiple times and having a more widespread area of effect.**

 **In essence, a sword he doesn't use lightly and only used it now because he was far too stressed out from everything going on and wanted to put an end to it.**

 **Shirou will also be taking Mars back to Clover for interrogation via Marx's Memory Magic.**

 **Oh, and in case someone didn't realise the corpses that Rades has now includes Frankenstein, Darius III and Xiang Yu. Just to spice things up a bit.**

 **Oh, and about the fanfic I am writing right now, I will explain the premisse as most seem to not know about Terror Infinity:**

Regular people are invited at the lowest point of their lives (like suicide point or pure depression) to go live a 'real life' without ever knowing what that entails. This is actually an invitation to go to what is called God's Dimension, there people are teleported to alternative universes based on anime, manga, movies, or novels (light novel or wuxias) and there they must complete missions.

These missions can variate, for instance, it is possible for a mission be about assassination, escort, survival, helping someone, delivery, anything really. Depending on the mission and what you accomplish during the mission you can obtain bonuses, these bonuses can be exchanged by weapons and other things at will including things like genetic modifications and the such.

There is a near-limitless number of missions possible. For instance, I could make a mission on Game of Thrones where the OCs are put on the army as mercenaries right as the battle against the White Walkers are taking place and they must kill the Night King without Deus-Ex-Machina Aria there and with the enemy dead army having 500 Giants and multiple Ice Dragons.

I could make them go to Dragonball fight to stop Frieza back in Nameck

It can be anything really

Another good thing is that there is no absolute limit of what can be mixed. One example is that one of the OCs is at the same time a Oni (like Shion from Tensei Shitara Slime Datta ke before getting a name) while also being the Sword Hero from Rising of the Shield Hero

Any form of energy, body, and item can be obtained.

But the missions are always hard. For instance a possible mission is to help deal with Kokabiel in Highschool DxD with no Vali help.

 **As you all can tell, I need plenty of OCs for it to work. Any mix is possible and I accept any and all messages about them. But please, if it is about this just send me a PM, I am always open for those and try to never fail to answer (unless it is one just to trash talk me, that happened more than once).**


	23. Chapter 23

Shiro's P.O.V.

Returning to the Black Bulls base I turned to look at the others.

"Guys, would you mind going ahead to tell the captain about what happened?" I asked. "I sorta prefer to go straight to the capital."

My plan is to go straight there and get Marx's help in extracting all possible information from this white-haired diamond man here, I then will look for all possible intel from Diamond kingdom before going there to rescue Sakura and kill those guys that have put that bomb spell on her. Every minute counts.

"Sure, I don't mind." Asta said with a huge smile on his face, which was a great contrast to Luck who was downcast and annoyed.

Weird, Luck rarely ever gets any sad about anything really.

"Luck, something wrong?" I asked.

"It is just, well, that I could not fight to the death with that Diamond guy at all and he just ran away from me on the end. I couldn't even see that strongest magic of yours that Asta talked about and you refuse to use it again for me to see." He said and kicked the ground.

Oh, that makes sense, for him at least. Well, I might want to be a hero but I can't quite go help him there. For one I don't feel like fighting and using the _One Sword **EMIYA**_ for no absolutely necessary reason is not something I would ever do considering how strong it is. After all, it is a magic that, if I ever master, could make me be at an even higher level than Sensei.

"Don't worry, soon enough you will be back in the base and able to steal as much pudding from Magna as you desire, doesn't that also sounds like fun?" I said and upon hearing my words Luck's ears twitched and he looked up to me and his eyes sparkled in realization and pure glee.

"Yeah, that is right! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!" He said merely and I can only sweatdrop at it. He is so innocent and vicious at once, I can only be happy that Illya hasn't really interacted much with him otherwise the kingdom might go up in flames.

HUG

I then felt a soft sensation on my arm and I turn to look to see a pouting Tamamo.

"Hubby, you better not be thinking that you can leave me behind. Wherever you go I go too as a good wifey should." She said and I had to turn my eyes away from her beautiful face and readjust my pants. Why is my body reacting so much on this life, I blame hormones and Zelretch.

Sighing I accepted that she would be coming along with me to the capital even if only for this period, I will not take her or anyone else with me on my invasion of Diamond kingdom as it will be far too dangerous.

... I suddenly feel that this visit will be terrible if THAT annoying bastard with an ego bigger than Zelretch's track record of trolling is present. Sigh, I really hope I won't be having to see him otherwise I don't feel it will end well.

"Well, we are going now then. Noelle, when you get to the capital remember that if anyone speaks against you all you have to do is tell me. I will deal with it." I said and Noelle nodded hesitantly, I do not think for a moment she will though. She is much too prideful to ever tell me something like that.

With that in mind, I turn to Asta, who I know would ACTUALLY tell me everything if, for nothing else, because he doesn't seem able to hold a secret from a friend and I like to think that we are friends.

"Asta, that is also for you. You and Noelle are likely to be called to explain everything that happened in the mission while I take care of this" I said while moving the very much bounded man in my shoulder like a potato bag. "So please try and not cause any problem there, if anything, and I mean ANYTHING, happen you just tell me later or throw this ahead of you at high speeds and I will be there quickly enough." I said while giving him a _Flying Dagger **Finral**_ to him.

Honestly speaking that weapon is just broken, I can't even begin to imagine how it would be like if a Servant in the Holy Grail War had something like that, it is that much of a broken weapon.

However, I still am not feeling that safe. I might be gone for a while after this as I plan on going to Diamond as soon as possible so I want to make sure that Asta and the others are as safe as they can be.

What to give, what to give... Oh, that could work.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: Gouging Sword of the War God **Fragarach**_." I said and an iron ball appeared in my hands. I created another three and gave two for Asta and two for Noelle. "These are special weapons named Fragarach, it is the ultimate form of counterattack. The condition for its use is that the opponent must use their strongest attack, and Fragarach must be used directly after the enemy's strike. Despite being released afterward and no matter how fast the opposing attack is cast, Fragarach always strikes first by changing the flow of time to rewrite events so that it makes its own strike against the enemy before the opposing move was ever made in the course of the world. Rather than just rewriting events to gouge out the heart of the enemy, it is severing the fate of the combatants, reversing and changing the flow of destiny of both the user and the enemy simultaneously killing each other with their attacks." I explained in details but I could tell by the blanc expression of the others that they didn't understand what I just said at all.

Let's try with a different angle.

"Someone sends their strongest attack against you, you use this weapon by throwing it at the enemy, time is reversed and the enemy is defeated. It doesn't have particularly high requirements for magic energy and they can also work on vitality so even Asta can use them." I explained and both looked shocked at the weapon.

"W-Wait a second, you mean you had this sort of item on you all along and didn't use it on that entire battle? Why?" Noelle asked in shock, which should be understandable for her considering she is likely thinking that I had held back on the dungeon.

Well, she is not wrong that using this weapon definitely is a one-hit-wonder and that I wouldn't have used it on Rin or Sakura even if the other option was me dying, but then again...

"It wouldn't have worked even if I tried " I said. "This weapon only works against the strongest attack of someone, that girl didn't go all out for sure. Yeah, she was quite serious and didn't hold back much when rampaging, but she didn't release her strongest attack and that I can tell for sure." Her levels of magic clearly didn't spike, a normal sign to most of those in this world when they are about to launch their strongest strike. Besides, there is no way I would ever use it on her anyway so discussing this is useless.

"Oh, that makes sense." Asta said while nodding his head, Noelle on the side sighed before looking at him.

"... You didn't understand at all, right?"

"... The sky is quite blue today." Asta said while looking to the sky and pretending not to listen to Noelle who started to fume with anger.

I laughed a bit at that before saying my goodbyes to the others and teleporting away. My magic is still only at about 30% because of the fight but just a few teleportations are nothing that great and with one of my daggers aways in the Royal Palace I would not have a problem going there right now. I think I need about two more hours at most to go back to full capacity in my magic reserves, with luck I can even hope that another small limit has been broken as whenever someone spends all his/her magic energy and it restores to the peak there is a chance for it to grow a bit. It was my main method of increasing in magic capacity while training under Julius and after he left I didn't really slack off and tried spending my energy to the limit at least once a week.

* * *

Arriving in the Royal Palace I take a deep breath, the rich mana again surprises me as I feel the intense power around me. While the Royal Palace doesn't have nearly as much mana in the air as a dungeon it still is much more than other places and is easier to control as well making it so that it is possible to set up many wards against damage and invasions on it. I cannot understand to this day why the Royal Palace isn't protected by enough barriers and bounded fields to make even an attack by my **_EMIYA_** to not be able to damage it, something I intend to rectify when I become king. That and a LOT of other things, the kingdom needs to change urgently.

"Shiro-sama, it is good to see you in good health." A maid who happened to be around when I teleported to my room said as I showed up. She had shoulder-length pink hair and a cute enough face but was otherwise expressionless.

"Thanks. Could you send a message to Julius that I wish for an audience as soon as possible? I will have to wait here but make sure to mention that Marx will be necessary as well." I said and the maid bowed before leaving, her eyes lingering on Tamamo who was still hugging one of my arms.

After she left Tamamo turned to me.

"Heehh, I have some experience with nobility and things like that but this castle is quite different from the ones back where I came from." She said in wonder.

"Well, I hope it is better." I said.

"... I can't say which one is better, it is just that it is different." She said.

As I wondered at her words an increase in gravity on the room could be felt and a smell of someone I honestly disliked drifted into the place.

"Talking of other land's nobility and with your unique appearance, I judge you might be a spy and thus you should be kept on the dungeons until the facts are proven." An arrogant voice said and from the door entered one of the persons I liked the least. He is a pale-skinned man with short, dark hair combed back, except one lock that hangs down over the center of his forehead. He has a small, dark-colored dot just below his lower lip and above his chin. His face, as usual, is very stern with little or no emotion being shown on it. He is wearing a dark-colored, long-sleeve robe that flares out at the collar, over this he wears a light-colored stole, and underneath, he wears a pair of dark-colored boots.

He honestly has a priest-like vibe to him and his personality is terrible to the point of reminding me of a mixture of Gilgamesh and Kirei, two of the people I dislike the most.

Thus, it is no surprise we don't get along at all. Especially since he hated me since I was born, without me he would be the crown prince and next king, now he is just another servant.

"... Try and do that to a guest of mine, Damnatio, and I will make sure you pay." I said in a cold tone that could have made Kiritsugu proud. My hand on Tamamo's shoulder to show her I was here for her, she blushed a bit at that, strange as it may be.

"Humph, I am just executing the law. When someone suspicious appears in the castle it is only natural to apprehend the person for interrogation." Damnatio said.

"Law? This is stupid and you know it, you are the one to declare something unilaterally by yourself and you execute it while thinking everyone else will have to obey. Don't make me laugh." I said even more coldly.

"The law is equal towards everyone, I am just an instrument of it. Continue interfering and you may be judged as obstructing justice, a crime punishable by at least a month in the dungeon." Damnatio said.

"As if, I have read the law a while ago and the punishment for obstruction of justice was only a week. Besides, to categorize someone on obstructing justice there would be necessary to do more things than just say no to your decision." I said.

"The law was changed just this morning, you can later verify all possible sources and they all would agree it was done earlier today." Damnatio said.

"Wouldn't all those sources to know of the change in the law be your subordinates." I asked.

"Irrelevant." Damnati said in a final tone.

I had to grit my teeth, even if it wasn't as he said he would likely find his subordinates to change the written law and claim it was done earlier. Even him wanting to put Tamamo in prison is just to harass me, he does that a lot as he wants me to do some blunder that would make the nobles push for another instead of me to be the next king. I don't really have huge support amongst most nobility, those I do however are the Silva and Vermilion houses, the two strongest families in the kingdom beside the Kira family.

"Don't bully my darling." Tamamo said standing before me, her eyes a bit feral as her claws grew. Damnatio raised an eyebrow before moving his balance a bit further and the gravity increasing even more. Tamamo snarled and took out two ofuda from her sleeve and combat seemed inevitable.

"That should be enough, everyone." Julius appeared between Tamamo and Damnatio who seemed about to fight, with a movement of his hands he activated his magic. " _Time restraining magic: Chrono Stasis_." He said and put the two inside a sphere each that has a ring around its orbit with Roman numerals on it. The restraining magic stoped their bodies from moving further and they could still listen to everything.

Damnatio, despite activating his magic, was unable to do a thing since he was caught before he could sue his magic to begin with. If I was more like Shinji I would be gloating him for it quite a bit. Meanwhile, Tamamo relaxed visibly as Julius spoke.

"I understand that you were worried about the presence of young Tamamo here but I can assure you she is benign, she has already been through examination to prove that. And miss Tamamo, I understand your fervor in helping my disciple but please understand that actions against those or Royal Blood cannot be overlooked so easily."

And, just like that, I can see why he can manage the knight captains in all their... I will say quirkiness.

After that Julius released them both and both glared at one another before Damnatio turned and left, but not before speaking once again.

"Be sure to keep your pet on a leash, I don't want to have to deal with the situation if it happens." After he said that Damnatio left completely, I looked at Tamamo to tell her not to bother with him when...

"A leash, such an advanced play, but as a wife in training, I must try my best for hubby! But, I never knew he was into those sort of things, does this capital have a store of BDSM articles, it might be needed to also buy an apron only. That will be difficult, but if it is for darling..."

Yeah, I will NOT mess with that at all.

Instead, I turned to Master.

"Master, I captured this person from Diamond kingdom, could you verify all the information he has of the Diamond kingdom to pass up to me. Just be sure he is not injured in the process, despite being an enemy he hasn't tried anything since I captured him and was surprisingly agreeable, we should treat him with respect." I said and Julius nodded before looking at the man and widening his eyes before his eyes turned sorrowful.

"I see, so you were one of the victims of Morris. These magic crystals on your body don't lie, he really completed that sickening experiment." Master said and the man's eyes widened slightly. "Don't worry, we will not hurt you any further unless you try and resist or escape, I assure you on my honor as magic emperor."

The man looked at Julius with a firm gaze for a while before slowly nodding.

Seeing that this was solved I thanked master before moving with Tamamo to the Royal Library, there is a lot I need to investigate about the Diamond Kingdom and the library should have the information I need.

"Oh, and Shiro." Master called out. "There will be a ceremony for those who did exemplary work and deserve promotion will happen. If you could show up it would be excellent as you have been noted to receive one considering that you have drove back one of Spades Generals and took down a dangerous pirate that seriously damaged our cost you also eliminated a border military city of Diamond kingdom. These facts deserve recognition."

"... How did you-" I was about to ask how the hell did he know of that, I didn't even know about the military city and have to wonder if it was when I swung the _One Sword **Emiya**_ , but Julius already knows that.

However, before I could ask he already vanished, I can't help but sigh. Master really likes to act mysterious, I wouldn't even be surprised if he were there in the dungeon or at least some sort of surveillance followed me there, like a familiar or something.

I still have a long way to go before I can match him.

* * *

3° Person P.O.V.

Julius, back in his office, smiled slightly as he saw another 'him' enter.

"You really know how to do things, my friend. I am glad to have you here." He said as the 'Julius' in front of him rolled his eyes.

"Not everyone is like you that can just travel around all the time. Seriously, you overwork me with me helping take care of things here for you half the time. Why did I ever agree to enter a contract with you again?" The 'Julius' asked.

"... Because this is fun and we were compatible?" the actual Julius said with a shrug. "Besides, you know as well as I that something big is coming and we need to investigate. I can't afford to stay in this castle all the time and I trust you can help me take care of things here. After all, how many others can even hope of facing you Dialga?"

"Humph, it still bores me to be here." Dialga said as his face changed to that of a beast which looked cast out of metal. "I need to go now anyway, this little magic artifact you gave me is already losing its energy and I will only be able to return tomorrow." Dialga said as he disappeared in a flash, his body vanishing to inside Julius Grimoire. Dialga was Julius familiar and also a divine beast in control of time, the two were working together to stop a disaster that Dialga saw on the future that would mean the doom to the world as a whole.

Julius only smiled as he thought back to the events earlier, of how he had sensed when his disciple used his strongest blade and moving at the speed of light saw the effects of Shiro's attack and what happened after it.

'Well, even if I don't make it out of this disaster alive at least I can trust that the kingdom will be on good hands. Yami, Vangeance, Shiro, and all the young ones will definetly be able to help.'

* * *

Shiro's P.O.V.

Moving to the library I instantly started my research on the Diamond kingdom. The more I read of it the more I felt coldness towards it.

Mass slavery.

Human experiments.

Hunger.

Forced conscription to the army.

Concentration camps to those who were in opposition to the government.

If I didn't know any better I would say they are controlled by some monster like Hitler or Stalin. In this case, it is not far from the truth.

Moris, the prime minister, was a monster in human skin. Every possible atrocity was done by him and the current monarch was no more than a puppet of his.

The territory of Diamond was also covered by many soldiers, their people all received military training and many who denied to do it would be publicly tortured and executed as they are 'betraying the country'. There is also a politic of anti-spying that ensures that if anyone is accused of being a spy they will almost 100% of the time be found guilty and executed. Of course many are not spies but the country operates with the mentality that it is best to kill 1000 innocents and 1 spy than let this 1 spy go.

I can't point even one good thing of this nation. They have the largest military of the continent but they lack in talented magicians, the leaders of their military are called Eight Shining Generals and the current ones are all weaker than the seven knight captains by some degree. Part because they are old and part because of how their country doctrine of military power makes people not really focus much on individuality, something important for the development of new spells and growth as magicians.

"Darling, are you sure of this?" Tamamo spoke, her voice trembling a bit as she also read through the documents I did and probably reached the same conclusion I did. About how reckless and suicidal what I want to do is. "Invading this Diamond kingdom seems dangerous, you will be surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies from the first step you take. This is too dangerous."

"Regardless, I have to go. I need to save her." I said without thinking, this already was pretty much a mantra to me so I spoke before thinking.

It was only after the silence that followed that I noticed what I spoke and felt that I screwed this up.

"... Why?" She said. "Why is this girl so important?" Tamamo said again. I turned to look at her and could see that she was starting to hyperventilate and her eyes were red. "I, I don't want this. I don't want you to go through what I did, be surrounded and attacked by thousands of soldiers, having to run for your life while desperate for survival and hurting, so much pain, I don't want it. Why? Is this girl important enough that you want to go through that hell? Do you want to leave everyone and everything behind for this girl?"

* * *

Tamamo's P.O.V.

I can't understand.

No, I can but I don't want to understand.

Why does darling refuse to see this? Going there, it will only make him suffer pain and misery. He might be surrounded... killed.

No, no, I don't want this. I want darling to be like he was on the ship, guarding me and everyone behind his back, being my hero and the first real ray of light in a long time. But, if he goes he will probably not return, he will die and I will be all alone again. I don't want this.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

HUG

"... Why?" I asked as I sobbed. He was hugging me, I could feel his presence so near right now, so real, and yet he will leave all the same for someone who, from what I understood, he doesn't even know. I just want someone I can trust to be there for me, that will not disappear, I want to have someone to trust to be there for me.

Is everything here, is his friendships and my love so cheap that he is willing to throw it away because of someone he doesn't even know?

"... Tamamo, what I am about to tell you is a secret, probably my biggest secret. I haven't trusted this secret to anyone, but I will trust in you with it." As he said that I looked up at him, he had a very serious face and clearly was something serious. Something that he never revealed for anyone else. "I already know of your past, of the pain and suffering you went through. Now it is time for me to tell you my own story.

"My current name is Shiro Kira I, but before I was known by another name. My name is Shiro, Shiro Emiya and I am what you may call a broken man."

* * *

 **AN**

 **I know, this could have been better but this is the best I could do.**

 **Shiro decided to tell Tamamo everything about his past, if only for her to know more of him. It was not obligatory, true, but he felt he should do that. He knows how distressed she is, not telling her would be stranger for him instead. I also wanted to show Shiro showing more care for Tamamo, telling her his secret (even if heavily edited) shows that he trusts her, that he cares for her.**

 **On the other hand, this chapter is merely a set-up for when the invasion happens in full.**

 **Oh, and for those wondering, the Fragarach is strong, yes, but it would only work for the absolute strongest attack of someone in this fic, it would not work otherwise. Asta and Noelle will have some for protection and they will need it considering that this invasion will include three zombies close to captain level or on captain level. Besides that, there is also Karna who will get involved and take an interest in fighting Shiro head-on. Overall, this will be a huge mess as the Eyes of Midnight Sun members might include even more people, like one of the Third Eye for instance, I am not decided if I should include that or not.**

 **So, in the end, Shiro will have his work cut out for him very soon and expect action on the next few chapters.** **Also, I am working on a new fic that is a cross-over between Game of Thrones and Madan no Ou to Vanadis, it is just the start for now but if anyone wants to help me there it would be great. Right now it is only starting and has less than 30k words, but go check it out if possible.**

 **Follow, Favorite, and Review about ideas or thoughts you have for the story. Also, this is currently the most followed and favorited fic for Black Clover, I am so happy about that (^.^)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello all, did you miss me?**

 **Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I was busy with some of my other stories and especially a new one I am writing right now mostly for myself. It will be a wuxia but with some anime elements mixed in, I did not start posting it yet so don't bother for now.**

 **Anyway, I was also without any ideas for this chapter. I must have rewritten it 5 times at least and this one was the best result, I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Well, now that all this is said and done let's go to what matters then.**

 **The actual chapter ;)**

* * *

3° Person's P.O.V.

In the royal capital, the day was going great, Asta and Noelle were going to the Magic Emperor's chambers at the Royal Palace to give their reports as he requested (Julius wanted a report from others beside Shiro since he is prone to sometimes overlook things or play down the danger of some situations).

As this was the first time that Asta ever entered the Royal Palace he could only gawk at everything.

"Wow, and all of this is Shiro's?" Asta asked.

"That is right," Noelle said proudly. "Shiro is the Crown Prince, the next king of our nation and thus he is the one who will have control over this castle. It is his home, so to say."

"Wow, it is quite different from the orphanage I grew up in," Asta said and Noelle sighed.

"Of course it is. Shiro is of the noblest birth possible and even if he were to never do a single thing, he would still be just as influential or even more so than the Magic Emperor." Noelle said and Asta looked at her strangely like if she was an idiot.

"Noelle, you can't be serious. I mean, yeah being the Crown Prince is amazing and all but he wouldn't be as influential as the Magic Emperor. I don't even know the king's name." Asta said.

"The name is-"

"My name is Augustus Kira Clover XIII, peasant." A pompous voice said. Asta and Noelle turned to look at who spoke and upon seeing the person Noelle instantly bowed low, she had to give respect to the position of the man after all (not the man himself, he has never done anything that could be worth it of that except perhaps being the father to Shiro and not fucking everything up). Asta, however, didn't know who the person is and did not bow to him.

Augustus already had a tick mark as he heard the previous comment and now it was even worse when the same commoner had not shown any proper respect to him.

'This is why I didn't want commoners amongst the Magic Knights, they have no manners!' The king thought to himself.

"... Who?" Asta said.

"ASTA! This is the king! You should show some respect." Noelle shouted at the muscular boy.

"Whaaaa?" Asta shouted in amazement and seeing Asta's amazed and awed expression the king got quite happy inside, but the next few words dashed his happiness right away. "This is Shiro's father? But they don't look anything alike! I mean, Shiro has different hair, eyes, is more fit, approachable, strong, and so much more kingly than the king. Are you sure the two are even related? Shiro looks like he would fit on a history book with the words hero beside the picture of him, this guy wouldn't fit at all."

"YYOOOOUUUUU!" The king exploded and wanted to blast Asta for speaking like he was anything except great, however before he could Julius appeared before him.

"My king, please be patient. Asta here has just come back from a mission, spends a considerable amount of time together with them as squad members, and just speaks what comes to mind. Wouldn't it be better to think of what he said as a compliment of the amazing genes you passed on instead of an offence to you?" Julius said and the king finally relaxed a bit before snorting and leaving.

He was not satisfied, but a reminder that Shiro was his son and thus that he was just part of the king was enough to appease the king. Besides, he knows that as the Clover Kingdom's king the most important job is to continue the line of succession with the best possible offspring.

When the king was finally gone the Magic Emperor released a sigh of relief.

"That is good, I arrived on time." He said before turning to Asta and Noelle. "You two, please think better before you act and speak out of turn. If the king were to really order your imprisonment it would be quite troublesome. Now, would you two care for accompanying me to my chambers? I want that report and afterward, there will be a reward ceremony that I believe you all will enjoy."

The two agreed but inside the two were having completely different thoughts.

'Will Shiro be there at this ceremony? N-Not that I care, it is just that if this was a fancy event I'd like to be looking me best. Not that I would be dressing up for him or anything!'

'Magic Emperor, the strongest magic user in the kingdom and Shiro's teacher. I want that, I really want to become that. I will be the Magic Emperor, just you wait Yuno, Shiro!'

* * *

After submitting their report, they ended up meeting Yuno's group again as well as those from Azure Deer, they were asked to move to the award ceremony to watch.

There they found Shiro and Tamamo, who disguised herself using her magic to not look like a fix-girl even if that diminished loveliness a bit. For some reason, Tamamo was a bit more distant to Shiro, almost as if she didn't know how to really react to him. The reason was that after the talk where Shiro told her of his past life she had a lot to think about, mostly about what that meant.

She didn't care that he was mentally older than he looks or anything but of the honestly suicidal tendencies he used to have and how he was overly desirous to save others. She wondered if him saving her was just like it was for everybody else, if he actually cared for her as herself instead of just someone he saved.

Meanwhile, some of the magic knights in the place were looking curiously at Tamamo who, despite not being quite as close as she used to right now, was still holding hands with him and being physically quite close to Shiro. It was still farther than before where she basically glued herself to him.

However, as this was a solemn place no one spoke up about it.

"Now, with the presence of the crown prince as a guest, let us start the ceremony," Julius said and the ceremony went off without a hitch. Everyone was happy with the results and after it ended Julius was about to led everyone for a little celebration hall for a feast that was prepared but Shiro had no patience for that, he felt a pull to go and research more about what he had to know about the Diamond Kingdom.

Thus he left the area with Tamamo following him, the two went to the library and began their research for all possible knowledge they might have about the militaristic kingdom.

The information was disturbing, to say the least.

 _'The Diamond kingdom follows the ideology that the kingdom is the center of everything. There is no nobility there as the power is completely concentrated in the king and his prime minister. The different areas in the kingdom are controlled by the military and statesmen personal._

 _'What people eat, drink, and do is only what is approved by the state, religion was banned and, instead, the people only believe in the kingdom's supreme power. Any defeat is not spoken of and only victories are allowed to be known and even overblown to make the state look even more powerful. They also had a system to deal with infiltrators. If a person in a village is discovered to be harbouring feelings or ideas that go against the kingdom ideology then the entire village would be eradicated, but if the village people are to point out the person to the inquisitors before the inquisitors find them themselves then the village's not only is spared but gain many benefits like fewer taxes or other such things._

 _'This makes the people there die-hard patriots who think and 'love' the state beyond everything else. Education is also completely under the control of the state with only licensed teachers educated by the state being allowed into teaching what the state decree's as acceptable, much of the material being taught include information that the people of Clover and Heart's kingdoms are uncouth barbarians that drink the blood of their enemies and seek to enslave and kill everyone else with only the kingdom's military preventing such a thing._

 _'Another thing of notice is that the taxes in the Diamond kingdom are abnormally high, most villages find it difficult to survive through it unless they send some of their young to the military where they get high paying jobs. The best and those with unique magical abilities are then selected to be sent to the special curriculum that involves researching ways to improve a person's magic by any means necessary, as well as modifying their brains to make it more moldable._

 _'The eight most successful ones are then classified as Eight Shining Generals. The current eight are as follow:_

 _\- Mars - Capable of Crystal Magic and Fire magic, modified to be able to use both and was part of an experiment to make heartless soldiers;_

 _\- Ladros - Magic centers around absorbing and releasing magic power. He can also use the absorbed power for reinforcement. Advisable to take care as he has shown himself to be highly volatile in temperament;_

 _\- Sakura Matou - Crown Princess and fiancee of Atrum Galliastra. Possesses Familiar Magic, capable of creating insects and other beings that fight for her. Unable to show emotions, believed to be under heavy influence of the Soul and Mental Magics;_

 _-Atrum Galliastra - Son of Prime Minister Morris, known sadist and sex addict. Collects female soldiers, he finds beautiful into his battalion to fight and die for him as well as serve him sexually. Uses Mental Magic, which allows him to control others via commands as long as their mental capacity is weakened enough, as well as Extraction Magic which allows him to extract the magic powers of others and use them as his own whenever he wants it. All experiments used to test on others, when deemed safe, are implemented in him to further his powers;_

 _\- Sanson - Responsible for Law Enforcement and also takes care of handling the spy network and executing justice on behalf of the kingdom. He uses Executioner Magic which allows him to create and control executioner tools, currently searching for a last member of the Nobility who remains in the kingdom but the search shows little success as this last noble has too strong a support base and is loved by the people outside the capital. Also hunts down the remnants of the Church being led by two who are considered Holy Maidens;_

 _\- Darius III - A powerful military man who commanded the legions of the Diamond Kingdom he is tall, black, bald, and does not like wearing shirts but likes wearing different types of jewelry. He has Undead Magic allowing him to resuscitate fallen soldiers of his legion that can continue fighting for as long as Darius commands it. Believed to have physical strength comparable with Captain Yami of the Black Bulls;_

 _\- Gorgon - A powerful warrior who has undergone the most physical modifications to make her as close to being a magical beast as possible. Has Basilisc Magic that allows for her to petrify others, produce poison, and due to her body modifications can also increase her strength as well as turn her body snake-like. Potentially the most dangerous member of the Eight Generals;_

 _\- Avicebron - Expert in Golen magic he can create golems and set different functions for them. He is the one responsible for securing the borders and other places within the kingdom via his golems. He has been shown to work closely with Morris in the projects that involve eliminating the ability to think and feel from others, turning others into pseudo-golems to work for the state;_

 _'The terrain of the kingdom is-_

Such were the reports about the kingdom and all of it painted a terrible light on what was going on there. One that Shiro did not like the sound of.

The military force of Diamond, while weaker individually, was much more numerous with some of their Generals being a match or perhaps even above Shiro in power. Not only that, he can see that he will need to try and either incapacitate or kill at least two of the eight generals if he wants to save Sakura.

Atrum had control over her mind most likely and for as long as his influence remained it would continue to eat away at Sakura. In many ways, it reminded him of Zouken and his worms, a being that Shiro did his best to eliminate and would do all again if need be. A being like that detestable and disgusting worm does not deserve to keep breathing.

As for another person he must eliminate, Avicebron seems like a necessity. It was likely that he was the one to put the auto-destruction sequence in Sakura before and only after eliminating him should his magic lose its effect. Not only that, he was responsible for watching over the borders. if he did not eliminate him he might be able to enter but leaving was another story entirely as he would be fully alert about Shiro's presence by then.

Not to mention that it is not like Shiro would be able to leave the kingdom with their Crown Princess without going unnoticed.

As he continued to work in gathering intel for his mission other things were happening.

In the gathering place of the magic knights, two sides could clearly be seen. One being centred on the nobility that did not know or interact with Shiro who were looking disdainfully at Asta and his lack of manners and the side that had interacted with Shiro previously and were simply enjoying a good time.

Well, for the most part.

"What do you mean Onii-chan has gone and fought one of the Tercera General of Spades without any back-up?! What were you all doing? And who was that girl beside him, that is MY spot!" Illya said/shouted in anger, angry figures behind her flashing in and out of view as she did so. Her glare was squarely on Klaus who, with each reprimand, felt weak in the knees.

He was strong-willed and powerful, of that there was no doubt, but he had sparred more than once with Illya before and he knew what being a target of her anger was like as well as being a target of the stare her father had.

Neither were things he wanted anything to do with, both were in the top 10 scariest things in existence for him.

"As I said, we were separated most of the time and I had faced someone as well. It took me time to shake her off and find my way to him." He said in hopes that would calm Illya down.

Of course, there had to be something to ruin it.

"Oh, that pretty girl who followed you back and was also from Spades. She did say something weird to you before she left right? Something like hoping next time your meeting would be in better circumstances and blushed to you when saying that, right Klaus-sempai?" Asta said, his face covered in sauce from the spaghetti he was eating. He then cleaned his mouth before continuing eating while mentioning the lack of potatoes and how he would still rather eat Shiro's food.

THAT last comment, however, made MANY looks at Asta with horror.

"Wait, commoner. What do you mean by 'Shiro's food'? Even if we are not talking about how impossible it is that he would be doing such a menial and inferior thing as cooking you should pay more attention to your words! He is the Crown Prince, show some deference to those above you." A man from Golden Dawn said this, it was, however, less about Shiro and more about his position as Crown Prince.

This man, like many from Golden Dawn, noted that their Captain and Vice-Captain did not like Shiro and emulated this.

"Eh, but Shiro said I should call him that and think of him as just another Magic Knight as we are all friends. Besides, he does cook for everyone back in the Black Bulls." Asta said without any issue.

To Asta, Shiro was a friend, he was completely different from his original idea of someone of Royalty and was more like someone Asta could respect as long as he was away from Sister Lily. That is one thing he wanted to make sure did NOT mix. Besides, Asta knew Shiro enough to know that he was just glad to help and clearly liked cooking anyway.

This, however, caused everyone else to freeze before one released a laugh and before long most of those who did not know Shiro began to laugh out loud.

"This, this is just too funny."

"He really thinks the Crown Prince is his friend."

"To think someone this stupid would actually be a magic knight. This is too funny!"

"Honestly, this is why commoners should remember their place and not bother trying to go somewhere in life. They actually become delusional otherwise!"

Such were a few of the comments thrown around, none of those who knew little of Shiro actually believing it.

Soon after a fight broke out between the two sides, mostly because of one person.

"Painting Magic: The Scream." As this voice rang a figure emerged that looked like a person screaming and it actually began to scream loudly, covering the entire hall with the pitch and making everyone look at the person who did so.

Rill, the captain of the Azure Deer squad, was calmly waving his brush around as he did so. He wanted others to stop speaking nonsense. He knew little of Asta or what Shiro was doing but if Shiro considered them his friends then they were also Rill's friends. That was more than enough for the youngest captain ever to move.

He was about to stop his magic when a spear of mercury pierced it through.

"That is enough of your antics, Rill." Nozel said as he moved forward, he wanted to end all this nonsense and end this whole thing as he desired nothing more than to ask (read interrogate) about this mission that Shiro, the CROWN PRINCE and next King who Nozel was confident would raise the kingdom like no king before, went against the Tercera General of Spades, who should not be anywhere close to there, and alone.

A. L. O. N. E!

Depending on the situation Nozel could either kill Yami for the incompetence or kill Yami for not preparing any guards for someone who should always have at least one Captain Level guard close by just in case. The Black Bulls did have one other like that beside Yami and Shiro (regardless of what Shiro might deny being of or close of that level), but the lazy captain didn't bother and the other was probably galavanting around to help whoever asked him whatever it may be.

However, what he did not expect was that Fuegoleon would move as well.

"Nozel, we should not worry about trivial details like Rill's antics-" Rill looked like he got shot through the heart hearing that and quickly became depressed with his Vice-Captain DaVinci putting a comforting hand in his back while she drank some coffee with the other, for her this was just like any other day for them. "Instead, you should tell your siblings to have less prejudice against those they do not even properly know yet. If this young man here says he is friends with Shiro then he should be shown the proper respect."

"Humph, regardless he still is a commoner, it would not do to have one such as him thinking himself worthy of being friends with the Crown Prince. If something like this becomes known to all this might introduce instability to the kingdom from the mid and lower nobles thinking little of the crown and the Royal Family." Nozel pointed out before he knew it he was already releasing a heavy aura of power and it was like he was pressing everyone else down with his magic power alone.

That, clearly, did not agree with Fuegoleon who stared Nozel down as the two glared at one another. Both wanted what was best for Shiro but both disagreed on what 'the best' meant. Truth be told, this was just one more thing for the two to fight about as they would have found something eventually regardless. They just liked to fight one another. Yet deep down, they respected one another and considered each other the biggest obstacle to the title of next Magic Emperor so any chance to show dominance was appreciated.

Especially Yami or Jack, one would shrug off the responsibilities to others and the other was likely just scare off most people. The worst is that they can't say for certain which one would do what.

While this was happening DaVinci already stepped back as she looked with a fond smile as her captain was already painting something while looking at this scene.

Thankfully the previous situation was dispelled thanks to all this, not that one Klaus was any better as Illya was still glaring at him with a ghostly figure that looked strangely like a giant with a war skirt and sculpted muscles was glaring at Klaus with a strength that would make a lesser man faint.

It was at this time that two things happened at the same time. One was a messenger entering the hall with worry in his face, but before he could speak a red 'comet' passed through the window with all haste.

Everyone was confused for a moment until the messenger spoke.

"An attack, the capital is under attack by an unknown enemy."

At once, in the heads of the two people who knew Shiro best in this assembly of magic knights, a thought surged in their heads.

'Shiro, you idiot!'

* * *

Already in the streets, Shiro moved forward, thanks to his nose he could easily detect what no one else would be able to sense or detect.

A rotten, disgusting smell that he was more than familiar with from his previous life. It was different, sure, less corrupted no doubt, but the nature of it was similar enough and well-known enough that Shiro easily detected it.

Dead Apostle.

Well, not exactly a Dead Apostle, but someone that was using corpses much the same way in the form he controlled them. That raised more warning flags in his mind than anyone could understand. He knew what even one of those undead could do if left unchecked. He could not be sure of what magic exactly was being used and what principles it worked with, but it was still dangerous nonetheless.

He began to move before he could think about it and darted away from the palace as fast as his reinforced legs could take him.

" _Mythical Weapon Creation Magic: The Unfading Light of the Lake **Arondight**._" Creating the Noble Phantasm of Lancelot he felt glad to have realized that it was a great way to enhance himself even further than before, his speed firmly above amongst the top in the world by now.

He moved like the wind, Tamamo could only stare at him with bewilderment as she saw him moving much faster than she herself could follow, especially since he had a head start.

Not that she intended for him to keep his advantage. Using her energy she pushed herself even further and tried to at least follow close enough to Shiro to be able to support him as soon as possible.

When she got to the streets she could see about three dozen zombies already dealt with and Shiro moving forward, his movements like a dance of speed and grace as he moved. For those watching they could only think that he would continue on like this until he got to whoever started this and eliminated him.

That is until something made Shiro stop.

CLANG

Being pushed back Shiro looked attentively to who had stopped his path. The person stood tall with a lean build, white hair and red eyes with a spear in hand.

"This is nothing personal, but my Empress wanted to see something and, should I not intervene, then her wishes would go unanswered. I will stop you here, you may call me Karna, the Primera General."

As he said so he moved his head a bit out of the way and looked back.

'You can go and secure the watch target, I can deal with this.' The one in the back nodded despite not being visible for anyone there and the words being more an interpretation of the stare as Karna did not open his mouth. After all, he was at a distance of a few kilometres from there and Karna would not waste time speaking through such distances.

"Understood." This is what the vice-General of the Primera General said, his back straight as he looked at the target he was to watch over. He could not understand why Karna decided to stop Shiro like that, they were supposed to only watch after all, but if Karna felt the desire to do so then he would not object. He just set another arrow and prepared to show all why he, Arjuna, was the best archer in the continent.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Just in case of doubt, I plan for there to be one more Black Bull at least, ideas of who you think could fit are appreciated. Also, one thing I must make clear is that Illya can create constructs based on Berserker servants, but that does not stop it being possible for them to be used as characters as long but instead of a snarling and incapable of communication they would be able to talk and think properly. There won't be many so don't worry about that.**

 **And Shiro's next fight will be with an even greater enemy, Karna VS Shiro + 2 others that will be helping him soon. I think that this would make a good balance.**

 **What will happen next? How or when will the Heart's Kingdom contingency arrive? Will they arrive in time to help or not? Let us wait and see, shall we?**


	25. Not a chapter

**Not a chapter**

 **I am only here to speak that I opened a serverhannel of Discord for anyone who would like to speak of ideas for this story, others I work on, or make request or comment on possible new fanfics I could write.**

 **Here is the server:**

discord .g g/KX9BjZh


	26. Chapter 25

Throughout the city zombies continued to invade and spread. There were already thousands of them and more were created with each new death, it was a disaster of the highest order. To make it worst the zombies were capable of using their own magic from the time they were alive, not quite as strong as when they were alive but still moved and attacked with magic. Not only that, as they now are just corpses they no longer had the restrictions that regular humans usually have thus they could move faster and strike harder than regular humans without reinforcement magic.

And yet, despite their numbers and the fact several captains were fighting in the city right now, this was still not the most eye-catching thing happening in the capital right now. No, this title belonged to the duel between two people.

The Crown Prince of the Clover Kingdom and the Primera General of the Spades kingdom.

The two were moving throughout the capital, the two were using reinforcement to improve their physical attributes and were little more than blurs at this point and yet the fight raged on.

Shiro was using a single blade, it was a broadsword with considerable power to it. He was using _**Durandal**_ _The Peerless Sword_ , the sword of Roland and a holy sword known for being unbreakable and by carrying within it three miracles of God. He chose to use it because of how durable it was, a necessary feature when his enemy was using his spear made of concentrated heat that was so hot it melted right through Kanshou and Bakuya when he tried to use them.

They have been fighting for the last 5 minutes or so and their faces remained locked in a perpetual stoicism.

Shirou attacked him with a sweep attack only for Karna to put his spear in front of him, blocking the shockwave from hitting him while the houses around got clear signs of the strike. Karna then proceeded to try and stab Shirou who deflected the attack force upward before sliding Durandal close to Karna and going for a strike on his body only for Karna to pull his body back just enough to avoid the attack. Karna then proceeded to kick Shirou away only for Shirou to use his _Finral_ blade to teleport to above Karna and go for an attack from above, trying to pierce Karna.

Karna avoided it and launched about twenty flaming projectiles at Shirou when he got enough distance. Shirou responded in kind as he created twenty swords and sent then at Karna. Both avoided the strikes of the other, neither slowing down at all.

The citizens, those who were not in immediate danger of the Zombies at least, could only stare in awe at what they were seeing. Not only that, the magic knights sent a few people to help Shirou but the captains were busy as the stronger zombies had to be dealt with and the more normal knights could not even try and get close.

Even Yuno moved there to help but could not do a thing as he was, not only was his power not strong enough his element was wind, fighting against fire it was more likely he would create trouble instead of helping.

Clenching his fist Yuno could only think that he wanted to be stronger, strong enough to deserve to be the next Magic Emperor.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he turned away from this fight, there were more enemies he could fight against and he should be able to free at least one captain to come and help Shirou.

* * *

On another part of town the captain of the Blue Rose squad, Charlotte Roseley, was fighting against a specific zombie. It looked like a bride with short red hair, a horn in her forehead, two metal rods on the sides of her head, and a feral expression. She carried a mace in her hand which she was using to crush the vines sent her way.

Whenever she hit the vines electricity would flow and with the vines carrying water inside it made the situation disadvantageous for the captain.

And yet Charlotte was able to fight on. Not only that, Charlotte had the advantage.

However, it was still not easy since the enemy had impressive physical strength and it had an annoying regenerative speed and no regard for injuries.

"GO GET HER, BERSERKER!" A shout rang close by from Charlotte and a magic construct rushed to the zombie. It looked like an incarnation of violence, with its leather-like skin, messy black hair, giant physique, and the stone slab that barely could be called a sword in its hand.

It hit its weapon against the zombie who was sent flying back a distance. The berserker would have followed but more zombies came in all directions and aimed at Illy so she returned her construct to her side.

Illya turned to her captain and spoke.

"Captain, leave this to me. I will take care of things here, you need to deal with the caster of this spell."

Charlotte looked around and saw another of Illya's constructs and Sol cleaning the area of zombies. Seeing that they should be able to handle themselves Charlotte nodded and moved away, there were many more places in need of help and standing there was not going to be helping anyone.

She moved, wanting to help a bit more before moving forward.

" **Briar** **Creation Magic: Corpse-Hunting Briar Tree.** " As she said this she unsheathes their weapon and transforms it into several prickle-covered vines, which extend to considerable length as they surround her. These prickly vines actively hunt her targets. Once these vines have caught them, they converge together and rise to create tall trees of briars while the targets are still trapped between the prickles. These prickles are sharp enough to shred the targets that are trapped within the vines. She created more than five dozen such things around her as well as created multiple barriers around the citizens to protect them from any zombies who might try their luck.

Well, that and Illya's own magic. She DOES have a slight tendency of destroying everything around, her magic is Berserker magic in the end, after all.

Seeing this ready she moved to leave towards where the mage who created this attack is, however, an arrow hit where she was about to go and if not for her reflexes it would have hit her.

Turning in the direction where it came from and could not even see her assailant, such was the distance. Charlotte glared and put a serious expression in her face. Of the captains she was not really all that great with dealing with super long distance fights, but she had her ways if that is that the enemy wished to do.

" **Briar Creation Magic: Cursed crossbow of Birth.** " as she said that, from her right hand, a crossbow was created. Concentrating all her energy she tried to predict the area where the enemy must have shot his arrow from. In truth she had no need to fully know it, she only had to sense the magic energy that was left from his attack. Sensing it slightly she activated a second magic. " **Briar Creation Magic: Hunted Briar of the cursed snarring.** " As she did so she launched the 'arrow' created by her crossbow.

Arjuna saw all this and sneered, seeing how off-course the arrow was, but his smile vanished when the arrow changed trajectories after touching the area where his previous arrow flew by. The attack from Charlotte then moved to follow the previous trajectory and the longer it flew the faster it became as it sucked away the energy from the attack of Arjuna and the magic energy in the air.

Arjuna jumped to the side just in time as to avoid being hit by it. The arrow hit the place he was on before. It did not explode, instead the arrow turned and grew into briars trying to reach him, forcing him to escape and evade the best he could.

Pushing his hand forward he spoke up.

" **Destruction Magic: Palm of Salvation**." as Arjuna said that a wave of pure destructive power was released from his hand, obliterating completely the attack from Charlotte. Turning in the direction of the capital Arjuna saw something quickly approaching him from there.

It moved at incredible speeds and he could sense incredible magic power from it.

Instead of attacking Arjuna waited and saw when it reached close to him, this one creating a large impact.

"Ufufu, this is soo cool! I saw you attack from so far away and I just had to come and see who it was that was doing so." the person said as he stood in front of Arjuna, his azure robes flowing freely behind him. "I am the Azure Deer Captain, Rill Boismortier! And I hope your destruction magic can help my magic of creation reach new heights, Ufufufu."

'... This man, he may be weird, but he is strong.' Arjuna realized thus and moved ahead. A fight of creation and destruction started now.

* * *

Back in the capital, other fights exploded everywhere. The magic knights moved around and chaos was everywhere.

Civilians were being killed in droves and the magic knights, with their limited numbers, could not stop it all. But, all of this meant little to nothing to the king of the country.

He was on top of a bed that was three meters tall, he was currently laying in his comfortable bed and eating grapes from the hand of a noble lady lazily.

On the floor of the room there were some magic knights there in position, one of which was the assistant of the Magic Emperor, Max. As he looked in that bed and could see the king enjoying himself in such a frivolous manner Max felt his teeth clench a bit. He had come here to guard the king in this moment of crisis, but in truth, the one that should have been here is undoubtedly the magic emperor, not him.

And yet here he was. The Magic Emperor had gone out, disappeared to who knows where really. And right at this moment of crisis no less.

"And then? Where is Julius? Isn't his job as Magic Emperor to be right here by my side at this moment of crisis to protect the king?" The king asked lazily but with a hint of indignation to his tone.

"Answering my king, the Magic Emperor had an emergency matter to take care of. But please do not worry, this section of the palace is protected by multiple bounded fields and the king's personal chambers are even more so well guarded. There is not a chance the enemy will manage to injury even a hair on your person's body." Max said with a painfully fake smile.

"Humm, oh well. When our guests arrive be sure to welcome them here then," The king said easily enough, making Max's face twitch.

Guests? What 'guests' is this idiot of a king even talking about right now?

"By guests who do you speak off?" Max asked in confusion.

The king looked like he didn't want to speak at all, he'd rather just continue enjoying himself instead of wasting time explaining these matters, but he was feeling rather good today so he would explain these small matters.

"It is quite simple really. The Queen of the Hearts kingdom, the Crown Prince, Crown Princess, second Princess, and some of their knights should be arriving today. The Queen contacted me a few days ago about strengthening our alliance and I decided to hear her out." The king said as another grape was put on his mouth, not noticing how pale Max was getting.

'To think that in a moment of crisis like this there would be the time when the royalty of another kingdom is coming. This could not grow any worse.' Max thought to himself, not realizing how he had just jinxed this whole thing.

A lot.

"Well, and where is my son? Well protected, I believe." The king asked and Max's smile became much, much more strained than before.

In his head he had two competing thoughts. First being 'He is doing what a king should, go and help his countryman in a moment of crisis instead of hiding and thinking only of himself!' while the second being 'Oh, fuck me sideways. If the king hears of Shirou being in the middle of it all who knows what this idiot will do or demand?!'.

Max was about to reply when the king waved his hand.

"You know what, I will just look for him myself." The king's grimoire then floated to before him as he spoke " **Light Creation Magic: Omnipotent King's Vision**."

As he said that light spread from his body in all directions for a moment before returning to in front of him, as if a space portal had been created a perfect visualization of where Shirou currently is was shown.

That being, in the middle of combat with Karna, gashes on his sides and wounds in his legs and belly, all closing quickly but the blood in many other places being still plenty visible.

The king's eyes paled seeing this, and so did Max but mostly because of the king's reaction. In Max's honest opinion he would say that if Shirou really were to fight with all he has then only the captains could match him, and even then he wasn't 100% sure any of them could actually kill Shirou even if they wanted to. His adaptability was terrifying and the power from Avalon was simply too hard to deal with. If he were to focus on only himself and not use Avalon on others then he was confident that Shirou could only really die if he were to have his magic energy depleted and doing so was certainly no easy task.

If it was up to Max he would have made Shirou the captain of his own Magic knight Squad as soon as possible, letting the kingdom have more Magic Kight Squads could only be a good thing considering how troublesome and chaotic the current world is becoming.

The king, looking at this, stood from his bed and asked.

"Which knight captains are in the capital right now?"

"Answering my majesty, the Azure Deer Captain and Vice-Captain; The Silver Eagles Captain; The Crimson Lion Captain; and the Blue Rose Captain." Max answered truthfully.

"Very well," As the king said that he activated his spell again, scenes of the fighting from all four captains could be seen.

Charlotte was moving towards the caster of the magic and so was Fuegoleon, Rill was facing Arjuna on the outside of the capital and their battle was already changing the terrain considerably with destruction and weird objects abound, and as for Nozel he and his siblings were decimating the zombies at the northern part of the capital the most distant place to where Shirou was currently fighting.

The king saw this for a while before snorting.

"Is THIS what my knight captains are doing? When their Crown Prince, the future king of Clover Kingdom, is fighting they are dealing with rabble instead of securing him? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! They are just lucky I am not in the mood to go and teach them a lesson about duty!"

Max and some of the other knights around could only hold a grimace as they thought that the king, who was laying down and eating grapes while his people were dying, really has no right of speaking as such. And the capabilities of actually doing anything about it.

"Send the message, I believe Yami and Vangeance have spatial magicians in their knight squads, tell them to hurry over and protect my son!"

Max bowed in consenting to this order, but inside he doubted it would do any good.

Yami actually coming to this now was doubtful at best and if Willian hasn't shown up until now then he'd likely not show up anyway.

But it was at this moment that the king spoke again.

"Wait, never mind. There is no need for that.

"Our allies are approaching."

* * *

With Asta he was currently facing the caster of the soul corpse magic, Rades, the one who created all these zombies.

He was having quite the difficulty, the enemy being guarded by a black-skinned and bald man who had to be at least 2,20 meters tall with two huge golden axes in hand. Asta had been facing the huge man for a good while now.

Whenever Asta hit the giant's ax he felt his whole body shake, the strength of those strikes not being a joking matter in the slightest. Thankfully Asta could barely deal with this amount of strength. If not for Rades sending pot shots at Asta he could even have had some advantage. His Anti-Magic sword able to weaken the giant whenever it touched his body, but with him being unable to follow through even when he managed to attack due to Rades attacks really put Asta on a bind here.

On a street nearby Noele was having trouble of her own as she and Leopoldo were facing what looked to be a female corpse with horns and a mace releasing electricity. It was not an easy fight, especially since Noelle was quite ineffective against electricity and Leopoldo was having trouble with another zombie giving assistance on the side, using water magic to counter his flames.

As Asta was fighting he could only grit his teeth in anger, the enemy was too strong for him right now.

It was at this moment when what looked like a flaming meteor went in his direction. Asta voided it the best he can and if not for what he understood of ki from Shirou he would definetly not have been able to dodge nearly as well.

Jumping away just in time he could see Shirou standing before him, multiple burn marks in his body quickly receding while facing a man with white hair and an armor made of fire in front of him.

Shirou didn't even seem to acknowledge Asta's presence, his feet moving quickly as he moved to Rades with the objective of killing him. Memories of the devastation of what Dead Apostles can create still firmly planted in his mind and hesitation not being something he would ever admit when in face of such a being.

However, before he could reach Rades, Karna intercepted him with a trust of his spear, changing the trajectory of the sword in the nick of time.

Not stoping in his movements Shirou accelerated the best he can, striking at blindingly fast speed while Karna defended against all of his strikes with the two swords.

Asta, seeing this, was gobsmacked. He didn't even know people could be that fast. He grined broadly seeing this and tried to circle it when he noticed someone in the distance approaching too. It was Tamamo, in her hands she held multiple talismans which she threw around her as she moved to help her Shirou.

"Now we will win for sure!" Asta said excitedly as he noted that on the direction of where Noele and Leopolde were from there was another person as reinforcement coming. The captain of the Crimson Lion Squad, Fuegoleon Vermilion.

Rades, seeing this, began sweating bullets as he turned to the sky.

"Damned animal, won't you show up already?!" As he called no one could see what he meant. But, as if on cue, the sun above brightened even further than before by many times over even.

"Hahaha, I see that the moment of my grand entrance is neigh! Very well, so be it then." An arrogant voice spoke loudly up high. The secret weapon that the Eye of Midnight Sun had obtained by simple luck was making his entrance.

Entrance in a spectacular way as he descended from the sky in a golden 'ship' while proudly looking down at everyone down in the ground.

The one in the ship looked down at everyone and smiled broadly.

"Look up, as I am as the sun so bask in the radiance of Ozymandias!" As he said that the man's figure could finally be seen. He was someone that radiated strength in waves and someone that Tamamo recognized well enough.

'What is he doing here?' Tamamo thought hysterically, knowing that Ozymandias should still be back in the village, and especially knowing just how dangerous he truly is. She could only grit her teeth and move to fight with all her might to stop him from wrecking havok in this entire city.

Looking down Ozymandias saw Tamamo and his eyes flashed in pity and with exasperation at her.

"Do not worry, little sister! I shall take you back where you belong soon enough as soon as I kill this Shirou person as for the agreement."

Those, those were not the right words to be said. Not at all.

And thus the chaotic battle descended in even more chaos as the fight grew that much worse.

And yet, no Julius have appeared to help. And as everyone was starting to converge things only would grow worse. Much, much worse.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Admittedly, not my best work here. I wasn't really that inspired and had a lot on my head while writing this chapter.**

 **Well, I hope you all at least enjoyed it. As for Ozymandias' sudden appearance, there is a reason for that. It will be revealed soon, I promise, but let us just say that news about Tamamo and her 'destiny' was not exactly a secret.**

 **Finally, the next chapter will be a few more fights and the finale of this arc as I really don't like it and I really want to write the invasion of the Diamond kingdom.**

 **Oh, and about Shirou being able to face Karna who should be much stronger than him, remember that the one who always says that Shirou isn't on the level of captains is Shirou himself, he was never that confident on his own skills anyway. Also, this time he wasn't sharing the power of Avalon, making him stupidly hard to kill. Honestly, he may or may not be on the level of the captains (being extremely close at the very least), but if he were to fight them for real I doubt anyone except Yami could actually defeat him. And Yami only could if he got Spatial Slash, so until then even him would not be a true match.**


End file.
